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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


*** 


a 


Purchased   by  the   Hamill   Missionary   Fund. 


BV  2060  .F7  1906 

Fowler,  Charles  Henry,  1837- 

1908. 
Missionary  addresses 


Missionary  Addresses 


By 
CHARLES  HENRY  FOWLER 

Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


CINCINNATI:    JENNINGS    AND    GRAHAM 
NEW    YORK:    EATON    AND    MAINS 


COPYRIGHT,    1906,    BY 
JENNINGS    AND   GRAHAM 


MY   WIFE, 

AND   TO 

MY    SON, 

Cad  ^itthzixtk  ^xcictii^ 

who  traveled  with  me 
in  all  my  journeyings  to  our 
Foreign  Mission  Fields 
and  who  have  lovingly 
encouraged  this  work, 

I  DEDICATE 
THIS    VOLUME 


CONTENTS 

Page 

I.   Missions  and  World  Movements,  13 

II.   Our  Opportunity,        -        -        -  92 

III.  The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions,  144 

IV.  The  Message,        -        -       -        -  187 

V.   Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Con- 
trasted,       230 

VI.  The  Field, 265 

VII.  The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Hea- 
then,    283 

VIII.  Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea,  309 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 

Among  the  really  great  preachers  of  this 
generation,  whether  in  England  or  in  Amer- 
ica, it  will  be  readily  conceded  that  the  Rev. 
Bishop  Charles  H.  Fowler  stands  in  the  fore- 
most rank.  His  fame  as  a  preacher  of  the 
great  themes  of  the  Gospel,  and  on  these  only 
does  he  preach,  extends  far  beyond  the  limits 
of  his  own  Church.  In  Canada,  in  England, 
in  the  lands  of  the  Orient,  wherever  he  has 
journeyed  performing  the  duties  of  his  Epis- 
copal office,  thousands  have  waited  on  his 
ministry  and  rejoiced  mightily  in  the  light 
and  inspiration  that  have  come  to  them.  The 
Christ  and  the  Cross  of  Christ,  His  Incarna- 
tion, His  Supernatural  Work,  Atonement  for 
Human  Sin,  and  the  Sure  Triumph  of  His 
Kingdom  are  the  themes  which,  when  pre- 
sented with  the  fervor  of  conviction,  have 
an  immortal  interest  for  men  everywhere,  and 

7 


Prefatory  Note. 

nowhere  in  all  the  wide  realm  of  Christian 
thought  is  Bishop  Fowler  more  at  home,  or 
more  truly  the  preacher,  than  when  discours- 
ing with  strength  and  vigor  on  these  foun- 
dation truths  of  our  Holy  Religion. 

But  it  is  not  as  a  pulpit  orator  only  that 
Bishop  Fowler  is  known.  The  Christian 
world  rejoices  in  the  great  orators  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, eloquent  defenders  of  truth,  Liddon, 
Lacordaire,  Beecher,  Simpson,  Storrs,  Spur- 
geon,  Clifford,  Punshon,  and  a  brilliant  gal- 
axy of  others  in  all  Churches  and  lands,  and 
the  Church  of  God  might  well  despair  when 
the  Head  of  the  Church  no  longer  confers 
upon  His  people  the  gift  of  men  endowed 
with  persuasive  speech.  But  it  is  not  in  the 
pulpit  only,  but  in  the  assemblies  of  the  peo- 
ple, wherever  and  whenever  great  principles 
of  social  or  civic  righteousness  or  momentous 
interests  vital  to  the  progress  of  Christ's  king- 
dom are  at  stake  that  there  also  must  the  voice 
of  the  Prophet  be  heard.  As  a  platform 
speaker  Bishop  Fowler's  name  is  linked 
throughout  the  United  States  with  many  of 

8 


Prefatory  Note. 

the  most  important  occasions,  great  popular 
gatherings,  when  causes  dear  to  the  hearts  of 
men  in  Church  and  State  demanded  fitting 
expression.  In  him,  as  in  others  of  his  col- 
leagues, missions,  education,  philanthropy, 
and  patriotism  have  ever  found  an  eloquent 
tongue. 

For  some  time  Bishop  Fowler  was  impor- 
tuned to  publish  his  sermons  and  addresses, 
and  also  his  lectures;  but  he  steadily  declined. 
Yielding  finaJly,  however,  to  persistent  solici- 
tation, he  turned  over  his  manuscripts,  and 
within  a  short  period  four  volumes,  includ- 
ing his  Missionary  Addresses,  Miscellaneous 
Addresses,  Lectures  and  Select  Sermons,  will 
be  published.  This  first  volume  contains 
those  great  missionary  addresses  which  re- 
cent missionary  movements  called  forth,  and 
others  which  from  time  to  time  the  author  as 
pastor,  missionary  secretary,  or  bishop  has 
given  to  the  Church.  Here,  once  again,  is 
the  prophet  of  old,  preacher  and  statesman 
in  modern  dress,  the  needs  of  the  nations, 
the  adequacy  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  future 

9 


Prefatory  Note. 

of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  triumph  are  pre- 
sented to  us  with  illuminating  power,  and 
with  earnest  pleading  he  calls  us  to  see  his 
dream,  which  he  only  dreams  who  thinks  it 
is  a  dream. 

To  each  address  we  have  prefixed  a  short 
note,  stating  time  and  place  and  occasion  of 
its  delivery,  with  such  incidental  remark  as 
may  be  of  interest  now  or  in  days  to  come. 

R.  J.  Cooke, 

Book  Editor. 


MISSIONARY  ADDRESSES 


I. 

MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  MOVE- 
MENTS. 

[This  theme  was  assigned  to  Bishop  Fowler  by  the  Open  Door 
Emergency  Commission.  The  address  was  prepared  and  deliv- 
ered before  the  Missionary  Convention  held  in  the  Academy  of 
Music  in  Philadelphia,  October  13,  1903,  just  preceding  the  open- 
ing of  the  Russo-Japanese  War. 

While  the  address  was  being  delivered  to  that  immense  audi- 
ence, the  newsboys  in  the  streets  were  crying  for  the  first  time 
'The  strained  relations  between  Russia  and  Japan  threaten  im- 
mediate rupture."  This  new  alarm  emphasized  and  shaped  some 
of  the  utterances.  Subsequent  events  intensified  the  interest  in 
this  address.  The  moral  support  given  to  Japan  by  England 
and  the  United  States  made  more  pronounced  interference  unnec- 
essary in  order  to  keep  Japan  on  the  world's  map.  The  address 
created  a  profound  impression,  and  contributed  largely  to  the 
moulding  of  public  opinion.] 

Missions  and  World  Movements  fully 
stated  would  answer  the  whys  of  human  his- 
tory: why  it  runs  thus  and  thus.  Mount  Cal- 
vary is  the  key  that  unlocks  the  mystery.  Re- 
demption is  God's  objective  point.  Whatever 
God  says  goes  in  a  Missionary  Convention; 
goes  finally  in  human  history.  I  have  seen 
throngs  of  Hindus  bathing  at  the  junction  of 
the  Ganges  and  the  Jumna.  They  believed 
that  at  the  junction  of  these  two  sacred  rivers 

13 


'Missionary  Addresses. 

there  was  also  a  third,  a  holy  and  invisible 
river  coming  down  from  the  throne  of  God, 
that,  mingling  with  the  two  earthly  rivers, 
cleansed  the  bathers  and  made  them  fit  for 
the  kingdom  of  God.  So  we  hold  that  where 
the  great  streams  of  secular  events  and  of 
Church  movements  mingle,  there  is  also  an- 
other stream  coming  down  from  God's  Al- 
mighty Providence  that  transforms  these 
streams  and  orders  their  movements  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  kingdom  of  God.  This  stream 
of  Providence  comes  to  the  surface  in  the  his- 
tory of  Israel,  but  it  sweeps  on  under  all  his- 
tory. Cyrus  took  Babylon  from  polytheists, 
idolaters,  and  extended  the  domains  of  Mono- 
theism. Mohammed  trampled  down  idola- 
trous altars.  The  bloody  Eagles  of  Rome 
quieted  and  compacted  the  clashing  tribes  and 
lifted  a  wide  shield  that  protected  St.  Paul 
everywhere  from  the  malice  and  bigotry  of 
his  countrymen.  German  and  English  mon- 
archs  turned  back  the  power  of  the  Pope  and 
made  room  for  religious  freedom.  Wesley 
touched  the  dead  corpse  of  formal  Christian- 
ity; it  felt  the  throb  of  new  life,  and  stood 
upon  its  feet.  These  are  world  movements 
for  righteousness. 

14 


Missions  and  JVorld  Movements. 

There    is    a    drift    toward    righteousness.  The 
Latest  evolutionists   hold  that  natural  selec-  ■^r'"'' 

of  the 

tion  is  under  this  law.  There  has  always  been  Ages. 
one  end  in  view  up  through  all  animal  incre- 
ments to  the  perfected  physical,  up  into  the 
intellectual,  and  up,  by  the  same  law  of  selec- 
tion, to  the  spiritual.  From  the  first  speck  of 
mist  in  the  universe,  on  through  the  incon- 
ceivable lapses  of  duration,  there  has  been  a' 
steady  trend  toward  the  perfect  man.  This 
ideal  of  evolution  Christianity  has  realized 
in  the  Man  of  Nazareth.  There  is  that  in 
things  that  makes  for  righteousness.  My  faith 
does  not  faint  or  weary  in  this  long  ascent. 
This  only  gives  me  a  good  start  into  an  end- 
less future.  The  Supreme  Power  who  has 
worked  and  watched  so  long  will  not  now 
sleep  nor  forget  me. 

On  the  way  to  the  North  Cape  our  steamer 
brushed  against  the  branches  of  trees  on  the 
sides  of  the  mountains  that  rose  almost  straight 
up  out  of  the  sea.  I  wondered  how  it  could 
be  safe  to  sail  so  close.  But  marine  engineers 
said  to  me:  "It  is  safe.  The  shape  and  slant 
of  the  land  above  water  indicates  the  shape 
and  slant  of  the  land  below."  So  the  unnum- 
bered ages  of  God's  thought  in  the  past  as- 

15 


Missionary  Addresses. 

sures  me  of  care  for  endless  ages  to  come. 
When  God  tires  out  it  will  be  so  late  that  the 
universe  will  have  been  rolled  together  like 
a  scroll  and  folded  away  like  a  vesture,  and 
we  shall  have  grown  so  old  and  strong  on  the 
wide  fields  of  our  eternal  activity  that  we  can 
only  dimly  recall  the  little  kindergarten  patch 
of  this  world's  missions.  With  Jesus  here  in 
our  humanity,  we  see  what  is  possible.  We 
can  poorly  realize  what  we  shall  be;  but  this 
we  know,  we  shall  be  transformed  into  His 
likeness,  our  vile  bodies  shall  be  fashioned 
like  unto  His  glorious  body,  and  we  shall  be 
like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.  God 
seeks  always,  with  all  power  and  with  all  wis- 
dom, with  all  unflagging,  heartaching  love, 
to  lift  up  and  save  all  men.  He  is  no  re- 
specter of  persons;  He  willeth  not  the  death 
of  him  that  dieth,  but  would  that  all  men 
would  turn  and  live.  God's  Providence 
sweeps  round  the  world  and  through  all  time. 
All  available  forces  and  agencies  are  mar- 
shaled and  marched,  sent  into  the  field  to  help 
forward  His  redeeming  purpose.  So  the 
great  world  forces  that  seem  so  hard  and  hos- 
tile are  yet  handled  by  Him.  They  are  His 
messengers,  His  missionaries.    Even  the  wrath 

i6 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

of  men  shall  praise  Him,  and  the  remainder 
of  wrath  He  will  restrain.  All  things  shall 
work  together  for  good  for  His  children  and 
for  His  cause. 

True,  many  statesmen  handling  heathen  Natural 
countries  for  profit,  many  nominal  Christians  ^"^'"'^•^• 
in  mission-fields  for  trade,  many  travelers 
wishing  to  make  books  for  the  market,  and 
many  sea-going  officers  who  barely  reach  open 
ports,  are  the  natural  enemies  of  missionaries 
and  their  work.  The  lives  of  many  of  these 
men  are  rebuked,  and  their  practices  are  inter- 
fered with;  therefore  they  are  quick  to  criti- 
cise what  they  never  investigate.  The  East 
India  Company  stood  in  the  way  of  mission 
work  for  years.  Government  officials  fre- 
quently are  willing  to  find  scapegoats,  and 
therefore  criticise  and  complain. 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  surface  views,  the  Misshn- 
facts  remain  that  missionaries  usually  lead  the  '^'"'^^ 

.        Usually 

way  into  these  lands.  They  furnish  much  \n-  pioneers. 
formation  for  government  administrators  and 
for  scientists.  The  secretaries  and  interpre- 
ters of  the  government  embassies  to  unopened 
heathen  countries  have  nearly  always  been 
missionaries.  When  the  ministers  of  the  civ- 
ilized governments  were  besieged  in  Peking, 
2  17 


Missionary  Addresses. 

and  the  whole  world  stood  aghast,  hourly  ex- 
pecting the  horrible  massacre  to  be  consum- 
mated, it  was  a  missionary,  an  honored  mem- 
ber of  this  body,  Rev.  F.  D.  Gamewell,  D.  D., 
that  conducted  the  defense,  without  which, 
according  to  the  written  statement  of  the  Brit- 
ish Minister  in  Peking,  deliverance  would 
have  been  impossible.  When  our  American 
troops  made  their  way  into  Peking  under  the 
wall  through  the  bed  of  the  river,  as  the  Per- 
sians made  their  way  into  Babylon  and  into 
the  feast  of  Belshazzar,  it  was  a  missionary  of 
our  own  missions,  Rev.  C.  L.  Conger,  who 
led  the  troops  into  the  city.  We  feel  that  it 
is  high  time  for  this  irresponsible  and  unjust 
criticism  to  stop. 

Pardon  me  that  I  have  turned  aside  a  mo- 
ment to  repel  these  gorillas.  To  repel  goril- 
las, did  I  say?  No,  not  to  repel  gorillas;  only 
to  brush  away  these  gnats.  Let  me  address 
myself  to  the  great  forces  that  fill  this  field. 
Theme.  OuT  theme,  like  a  cube  in  geometry,  has 
three  dimensions — length,  breadth,  and  thick- 
ness. Its  factors  are  nations  and  races;  its 
fields  are  seas  and  continents;  its  sweep  is  the 
duration  of  mankind.  It  is  ethnological, 
touching  all  the  families  of  men.    It  is  polit- 

l8 


Missions  and  JVorld  Movements. 

ical,  reaching  all  the  world  governments.  It 
is  ethical,  handling  the  principles  of  the  moral 
government  of  God.  It  has  chiefly  to  do 
with  the  Mongol,  the  Slav,  the  Saxon,  the 
Latin  and  the  African  races.  It  involves 
paganism,  heathenism,  and  the  Greek  Church, 
Romanism  and  Protestantism.  As  a  map  of 
the  world  can  show  only  the  few  very  great 
cities,  so  we  can  only  touch  a  very  few  of  the 
principal  world  movements.  The  Latin  races 
in  the  Eastern  Hemisphere  have  a  great  past, 
and  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  they  promise 
a  great  future.  But  we  must  pass  these  im- 
portant fields  with  the  prayer  and  hope  that 
our  misionary  work  may  rejuvenate  the  one 
and  emancipate  the  other.  The  African  race 
is  a  far  more  remote  dominion;  this  also  we 
must  pass.  Let  us  fix  our  thought  rather  upon 
the  uncounted  baptized  and  unbaptized 
heathen,  whose  movements  claim  our  atten- 
tion. 

The  Pacific  is  the  storm-center  of  the  world.  The 
Low  political  barometers   are   traversing  its  ^^"^'^ 

^  ^  _  °  the  Storm- 

vast  surface.    Danger-signals  are  exhibited  on  center. 
nearly  every  coast.    All  the  great  capitals  are 
watching  their  ventures.     The  storm-center 
has  left  the  Mediterranean  and  the  British 

19 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Channel  and  the  North  Atlantic,  and  now 
draws  all  eyes  to  the  Yellow  Sea  and  the  Pa- 
cific. De  Tocqueville  said:  "The  United 
States  was  a  new  factor  in  the  world,  the  sig- 
nificance of  which  even  the  imagination  could 
not  grasp."  Creasy,  the  English  historian,  in 
185 1  predicted  the  forcible  opening  of  Japan 
by  the  United  States  and  the  vast  changes  in 
the  Orient.  Thomas  H.  Benton,  arguing  in 
the  United  States  Senate  for  a  Pacific  Rail- 
road, pointed  to  the  setting  sun  and  said, 
"There,  there,  gentlemen,  is  the  East!"  Wil- 
liam H.  Seward,  in  Congress  pleading  in  the 
interest  of  commerce  for  more  accurate  sur- 
veys of  the  North  Pacific,  gifted  with  the 
vision  of  the  Seer,  said:  "The  Pacific  Ocean, 
its  shores,  its  islands,  and  the  vast  regions  be- 
yond, will  become  the  chief  theater  of  events 
in  the  world's  great  hereafter."  And  again, 
this  great  statesman,  in  1852,  standing  in  the 
United  States  Senate  Chamber  by  the  side  of 
the  bier  of  Henry  Clay,  said:  "Certainly,  sir, 
the  great  lights  of  the  Senate  have  set.  We 
are  rising  to  a  more  sublime  stage  of  national 
progress,  that  of  expanding  wealth  and  rapid 
territorial  aggrandizement.  .  .  .  Com- 
merce has  brought  the  ancient  continents  near 

20 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

to  us,  and  created  necessities  for  new  positions. 
.  .  .  Perhaps  connections  or  colonies  there. 
.  .  .  Even  prudence  will  soon  be  required 
to  decide  whether  distant  regions  East  or  West 
shall  come  under  our  protection,  or  be  left 
to  aggrandize  a  rapidly  spreading  and  hostile 
domain  of  despotism.  Sir,  who  among  us  is 
equal  to  these  mighty  questions?  I  fear  there 
is  no  one." 

Since  these  inspired  words  were  uttered 
more  than  fifty  years  have  joined  the  silent 
and  endless  procession  of  the  past.  That 
statesman,  like  the  one  voiceless  at  his  feet, 
has  passed  from  the  stage  of  action  into  the 
chiseled  marble  and  molded  bronze,  and  into 
the  page  of  history.  But  these  "mighty  ques- 
tions" are  standing  here,  like  mailed  warriors, 
to  dispute  our  march  into  the  future.  Whether 
we  wish  to  enter  the  lists  or  not,  we  must, 
with  the  aid  of  the  facts  dropped  at  our  feet 
by  this  half-century,  make  to  these  "mighty 
questions"  answers  with  which  we  can  humbly 
and  fearlessly  face  God. 

The  apocalyptic   angel   for  this   twentieth  ^^jm. 
century,    calling    the    nations    to    judgment, 
stands  with  one  foot  on  the  Pacific  and  the 
other  on  the  continent  of  Asia.    The  Pacific 

21 


Missionary  Addresses. 

washes  five  continents  out  of  six.  Asia  con- 
tains the  three  greatest  empires  on  earth, — 
British,  Russian,  Chinese.  It  cradles  three- 
fourths  of  mankind.  It  has  the  loftiest  moun- 
tains and  the  most  important  rivers.  It  has 
the  widest  stretches  of  arable  land,  and  the 
most  productive  soil.  It  has  an  empire  ex- 
tending from  the  Arctic  Sea  to  the  Indian 
Ocean,  and  from  Germany  to  the  Yellow  Sea. 
"It  built  the  most  wonderful  of  all  cities, 
Babylon,  and  the  richest  of  all  palaces,  Per- 
sepolis,  and  the  most  beautiful  of  all  tombs, 
the  Taj  Mahal."  It  has  given  us  music  and 
the  drama,  gunpowder,  and  the  compass, 
guide  on  the  earth;  and  the  Bible,  guide  to 
heaven.  It  has  generated  the  most  philos- 
ophies, and  is  the  birthplace  of  all  the  great 
religions.  It  has  produced  "the  five  greatest 
moral  and  religious  teachers  of  the  world, — 
Moses,  Buddha,  Confucius,  Jesus,  and  Mo- 
hammed ;"  the  wisest  of  kings  and  the  blood- 
iest of  conquerors.  This  is  the  land  where 
the  Church  was  organized  in  Abraham,  and 
where  the  law  was  thundered  from  Mount 
Sinai;  where  the  race  was  blasted  in  Eden, 
and  where  it  was  redeemed  on  Calvary.  This 
is  great  Asia,  whose  population  to-day  is  on 

22 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

the  increase,  and  whose  virility,  with  the  aid 
of  Russian  infusions,  equals  its  palmiest  days; 
whose  commerce  is  the  magnet  of  every  me- 
tropolis, and  whose  markets  are  the  inspira- 
tion of  every  great  nation  and  the  necessity 
of  all  the  dense  populations.  With  new  blood 
monopolizing  her  highways;  with  rival  lead- 
ers, the  Saxon  and  the  Slav,  fighting  with 
their  backs  to  the  North  Sea  and  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  it  is  impossible  for  the  imagination  to 
measure  its  importance.  Not  a  harbor  open 
to  the  Pacific  but  feels  the  throbbing  of  its 
swelling  pulse,  and  not  a  nation  with  a  Pa- 
cific exposure  that  can  safely  sleep  at  the  pres- 
sent  low-tide  mark. 

Turkey  is  the  sick  man  in  Europe,  China  china 
is  the  sick  man  in  Asia.    I  can  not  discuss  her''^''^, 

Problem 

special  mission  work.  I  can  only  enter  the  for  the 
Yellow  Ward  in  the  World's  Hospital,  feel  ^'""^^• 
the  patient's  pulse,  look  at  her  tongue,  ques- 
tion the  nurses,  and  sit  down  a  few  moments 
with  doctors  and  surgeons  in  the  anteroom. 
The  patient  seems  to  have  creeping  paralysis. 
It  may  be  locomotor  ataxia.  It  may  be  only 
a  trick  of  the  old  serpent.  The  doctors  are 
timid  about  diagnosing  the  case.  They  all 
agree  that,  whatever  ails  her  body,  the  mal- 

23 


Missiofiary  Addresses. 

ady  has  not  reached  her  intellect.  Her  cun- 
ning has  never  been  surpassed.  The  Russian 
surgeon  has  brought  his  chest  of  instruments, 
yet  he  seems  to  hesitate  to  venture  an  opinion. 
Once  when  the  Roman  Conclave  was  walled 
in  to  elect  a  new  Pope,  and  no  one  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  monarchs  was  certain  of 
electing  his  candidate,  in  order  to  gain  time 
they  elected  an  aged  cardinal  who  was  too 
sick  and  feeble  to  stand  alone.  As  soon  as 
the  ballot  was  announced  the  sick  man  arose, 
dropped  his  crutches,  and  straightened  up  in 
vigorous  manhood,  saying,  "Now,  gentlemen, 
you  have  a  ruler."  A  long  and  powerful 
reign  verified  his  statement.  So  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  treat  this  sick  man  of  Asia,  who  has 
the  longevity  of  the  forests,  the  rough  endur- 
ance of  the  rhinoceros,  the  stately  dignity  of 
the  lion,  the  cunning  of  the  fox,  and  the  wis- 
dom of  the  serpent. 
The  Bulk     The  bulk  of  China  is  too  vast  to  be  handled 

of  China.  •!       •  '1 

''  easily  m  our  mmds. 

As  it  was  lying  on  the  map  when  some  of 
us  were  in  school,  it  stretched  through  sixty 
degrees  of  longitude  and  spread  over  forty 
degrees  of  latitude.  It  measured  four  and 
a  half  million  square  miles.     But  in  the  con- 

24 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

vulsions  of  recent  years  it  has  shaken  off 
Tibet,  Hi,  Kashgaria,  Mongolia,  and  Korea, 
and  now  Manchuria  is  also  being  threatened 
by  the  great  Polar  Bear.  There  remain  one 
million  five  hundred  thousand  square  miles 
of  the  best  acreage,  one-third  the  empire  in 
area,  with  eleven-twelfths  in  population.  It 
is  over  three  hundred  and  fifty  million  strong. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  accept  the  recent  state- 
ment of  J.  W.  Foster,  the  great  authority  on 
American  diplomacy,  when  he  says:  "It  is 
scarcely  an  exaggeration  in  presence  of  its 
history  and  attainments  to  assert  that  no  na- 
tion or  race  of  ancient  or  modern  times  has 
stronger  claim  than  the  Chinese  to  be  called 
a  great  people."  They  were  an  ancient  peo- 
ple, with  city  and  town  organizations,  with 
commerce  and  trade,  with  arts  and  sciences, 
with  histories  and  heroes,  three  thousand  years 
before  there  was  an  Anglo-Saxon.  They  had 
printing  many  centuries  before  Faust  played 
with  his  blocks,  and  gunpowder  long  before 
the  last  great  Mohammed  shot  down  the  gates 
and  walls  of  Constantinople.  Their  compass 
directed  their  open  sea  voyages  beyond  the 
sight  of  mountain  or  beacon  long  before  Co- 
lumbus picked  up  bits  of  strange  wood  on 

25 


Missionary  Addresses. 

the  shores  of  Italy.  They  dug  salt-wells  five 
thousand  feet  deep  centuries  before  Solomon 
was  born,  and  they  had  civil  service  exami- 
nations for  office  ages  before  Abraham 
received  the  blessing  from  Melchizedek. 
Surely  they  are  a  great  people. 
Sui  When  I  stepped  upon  the  shores  of  Asia  I 
enerts.  ^^^  ^j^^^  j  ^^^  -^^  another  world.     The  ages 

crumpled  beneath  my  feet,  and  I  instinctively 
looked  about  me  for  the  patriarchs  and  for 
the  leaders  of  the  primitive  races.  Physically 
everything  was  turned  around.  Men  I  met 
turned  out  to  the  left;  men  I  greeted  shook 
their  own  hands  instead  of  mine.  Scaffold- 
ings were  built  first,  then  the  houses  were  built 
inside  of  them.  The  mechanic  turned  his 
auger  and  gimlet  and  screws  to  the  left  to 
make  them  enter.  The  carpenter  pulled  his 
plane  and  his  saw  toward  him,  and  pushed 
his  drawing-knife  from  him.  Strangers  mov- 
ing into  a  new  neighborhood  called  on  the 
people  with  whom  they  wanted  social  rela- 
tions. Soon  one  learns  that  these  externals  are 
only  indices  of  deeper  differences.  The  very 
modes  of  thought  seem  reversed.  Their  archi- 
tecture and  art  and  very  laws  of  language 
are  peculiar.     Business  methods,  politics,  lit- 

26 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

erature,  amusements,  and  worship,  are  all  re- 
versed. While  the  races  of  the  Orient  often 
dififer  widely  from  each  other  in  personal  ap- 
pearance, in  costume  and  speech,  yet  one  feels 
a  common  spirit  among  them  all.  Touch  Asia 
anywhere,  and  you  have  the  same  impressions. 
It  is  like  touching  a  tiger,  soft  and  pleasant; 
yet  you  are  conscious  that  there  are  teeth  and 
claws  concealed  near  by.  There  is  the  same 
politeness  and  dignity  in  manner,  the  same 
indifiference  to  truth,  and  attention  to  minute 
social  laws.  It  is  always  easier  for  them  to 
lie  than  to  offend.  ^Esthetics  annihilates  Eth- 
ics. They  respect  successful  falsehood,  and 
judges  who  are  flagrantly  corrupt.  They 
placidly  accept  any  government  with  power. 
They  admire  a  governor  who  rides  over  them 
and  beheads  them.  Liberty  would  be  scoffed 
by  them.  They  think  that  there  is  no  use  of 
having  power  unless  you  use  it.  They  do  not 
believe  in  power  that  they  can  not  see.  Hon- 
esty is  a  myth,  and  a  man  who  does  not  im- 
prove his  opportunities  is  an  imbecile.  They 
are  oblivious  of  the  value  of  time,  and  hate 
haste  as  much  as  if  they  had,  like  Methuselah, 
eight  or  nine  centuries  to  kill.  There  is  a 
gulf  between  the  Orientals  and  Occidentals 

27 


Missionary  Addresses. 

as  wide  as  the  gulf  fixed  between  Dives  and 
Lazarus;  yet,  as  in  that  case,  there  are  humans 
on  both  sides.  These  are  some  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  Asiatics,  from  the  Arctic 
Ocean  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  from  the 
Black  Sea  to  the  Yellow  Sea. 

These  characteristics,  bad  as  they  are 
throughout  Asia,  have  their  worst  develop- 
ment in  China.  Here  their  evil  types  are 
confluent  and  malignant.  The  Chinaman  has 
no  public  spirit.  The  officers  are  paid  to  ad- 
minister the  government;  so  let  them  do  it. 
The  officers,  almost  without  exception,  are  un- 
mitigated liars  and  thieves,  and  the  mass  of 
the  people  match  them  in  perfidy.  There  is 
not  the  slightest  shame  about  lying.  But  it 
is  a  disgrace  not  to  put  on  the  best  face. 
Treachery  is  a  virtue.  Li  Hung  Chang  gave 
safe  conduct  and  assurances  to  the  seven  lead- 
ing captive  generals  of  the  Tai  Ping  Rebel- 
lion to  dine  with  him  on  his  boat,  and  the 
next  morning  their  heads  were  knocking 
about  in  the  bay.  Sir  Robert  Hart  was  so 
outraged  by  this  bloody  perfidy  that  it  is  said 
he  hunted  all  day,  revolver  in  hand,  for 
Prince  Li,  determined  to  kill  him  at  sight. 
There  is  no  limit  to  their  mendacity.     The 

28 


Missions  and  JVorld  Movements. 

higher  the  official,  the  more  monumental  the 
treachery.  In  1793  Lord  Macartney  was  the 
first  English  plenipotentiary  to  be  admitted 
to  an  audience  with  the  emperor.  He  refused 
to  kowtow — /.  e.,  pound  his  head  on  the 
ground — for  his  king  knew  no  superior.  The 
boat  that  carried  him  up  the  Peiho  toward 
Peking  bore  a  flag  saying,  "Ambassador  bear- 
ing tribute  from  the  country  of  England." 
The  high  officials  took  advantage  of  his  igno- 
rance of  Chinese  to  proclaim  this  falsehood. 
It  would  take  a  supernatural  chemistry  to  dis- 
till one  drop  of  honorable  integrity  out  of  a 
nation  like  that. 

It  is  not  strange  that  such  a  people  left  to  in<^rati- 
themselves  are  incapable  of  gratitude.  The '"'''''• 
two  men  who  had  served  China  most  faith- 
fully for  more  than  half  a  century  in  most 
arduous  and  distinguished  duties  are  Sir  Rob- 
ert Hart,  head  of  the  Customs  service,  whose 
integrity  and  honesty  and  lofty  character  have 
never  been  questioned,  and  Dr.  Martin,  head 
of  the  Chinese  College  for  training  men  for 
the  diplomatic  service  of  China. 

The  greatness  of  these  men  is  only  surpassed 
by  the  greatness  and  variety  of  their  public 
services.    There  are  no  men  in  all  Asia  who 

29 


Missionary  Addresses. 

deserve  more  from  China  than  they  do. 
There  ought  not  to  be  a  man  in  the  Empire 
who  would  not  gladly  protect  these  two  men 
at  all  hazards.  Yet  w^hen  the  outbreak  against 
the  foreigners  culminated  in  Peking,  no  man 
would  lift  a  hand  to  help  them,  and  they 
barely  escaped  with  their  lives  into  the  pro- 
tection of  the  British  barricades. 
Dishonest.  The  Empire  is  honeycombed  with  secret  so- 
cieties. The  slyness  and  mystery  of  these  or- 
ganizations are  adapted  to  the  superstition 
and  suspicion  of  the  Chinese  character.  These 
societies  afiford  runways  from  the  officials  and 
from  real  and  imaginary  enemies.  Their 
thieves  have  a  king,  who  sells  immunity  from 
their  ravages.  Their  beggars  also  have  a  king, 
w^ho  fixes  the  price  of  deliverance  from  their 
importunities  and  ofTensiveness.  It  is  an  un- 
classified social  condition,  where  a  beggar 
travels  his  circuit  on  horseback.  Famine- 
relief  money  sent  to  Canton  was  used  to  pay 
damages  awarded  on  account  of  assaults  made 
upon  the  foreign  concession.  When  the  em- 
peror orders  that  taxes  be  not  collected  in  a 
certain  district  on  account  of  famine,  the  offi- 
cials often  carefully  delay  posting  the  decree 
till  after  the  taxes  have  been  collected.    Often, 

30 


Missions  and  JVorld  Movements. 

when  relief  has  been  distributed,  the  tax- 
gatherer  follows  close  upon  the  heels  of  the 
charity  agent  and  gathers  up  the  contribu- 
tions. Possibly  these  two  agents  have  a  co- 
partnership in  the  business  and  both  thrive. 
I  saw  up  in  the  hills  along  the  Yang-tse  the 
castle  of  a  great  viceroy  who  had  cut  ofif 
within  three  scores  of  ten  thousand  heads,  and 
I  saw  some  of  the  heads  hung  out  over  the 
street  in  iron  baskets  like  ancient  torchlights. 
This  viceroy  was  praying  to  his  gods  to  spare 
him  till  he  rounded  up  the  full  ten  thousand. 
Yet  he  would  quote  from  Mencius  and  other 
ancient  classics  beautiful  sentiments  about 
"the  sacredness  of  human  life."  Cooke,  in 
his  "Life  and  State  Papers  of  a  Chinese  States- 
man," shows  that  this  statesman  "pockets  the 
money  given  to  him  to  repair  an  embank- 
ment, and  thus  inundates  a  province;  and  he 
deplores  the  land  lost  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil."  Signing  a  treaty,  he  said  it  was 
"only  a  deception  for  the  moment,"  yet  he 
exclaims  "against  the  crime  of  perjury."  The 
supreme  irony  known  anywhere  in  the  world, 
in  the  united  judgment  of  the  foreign  min- 
isters, is  in  the  inscription  over  the  entrance 
to  the  Yamen,  where  treaties  are  negotiated, 

31 


Missionary  Addresses. 

which  reads,  "The  greatest  happiness  is  in 
doing  good."  Like  the  wrecker,  who  had 
picked  up  the  body  of  a  drowned  man,  when 
asked  if  he  had  tried  to  resuscitate  him,  said, 
"Yes,  sir;  I  picked  his  pockets."  This  bland, 
two-faced  perjury  runs  throughout  the  Empire 
from  top  to  bottom.  Very  rare  exceptions, 
one  in  a  thousand,  are  found,  hardly  enough 
to  prove  the  law. 

Li  Hung  Chang  was  sent  to  St.  Petersburg 
to  protest  against  Russian  encroachments  upon 
Manchuria,  and  he  was  at  that  very  time  in 
the  pay  of  the  Russian  Government  as  a  di- 
rector in  the  Russian  Bank  in  Peking.  China 
is  the  supreme  dissembler  of  all  the  races  and 
of  all  the  ages.  It  is  a  compound  of  Judas 
Iscariot  and  Ananias,  perfected  by  the  train- 
ing and  practice  of  four  thousand  years.  It 
has  not  the  conscience  of  Judas,  enabling  it 
to  commit  suicide.  It  barely  has  the  smolder- 
ing remnants  of  the  moral  sense  of  Ananias, 
sufficient  to  make  it  susceptible  to  moral  pun- 
ishment. Its  chief  public  virtue  is  fear  of 
power.  The  only  binding  force  in  its  cove- 
nants is  in  the  mouth  of  a  double-shotted 
cannon. 

32 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

This  moral  mummy  is  embalmed  and  Supersti 
wrapped  in  superstitions  four  thousand  years  ''''"•'• 
old,  and  more  than  ten  thousand  layers  deep. 
These  superstitions  touch  every  act  of  life, 
and  every  word,  and  every  secret  thought. 
They  are  victims  of  luck,  fortune-tellers,  and 
necromancy.  They  live  in  a  world  packed  to 
the  very  stars  with  powerful  spirits,  which 
must  not  be  offended.  All  ranks  and  classes, 
from  the  emperor  down  to  the  poorest  coolie, 
are  steeped  and  boiled  and  parboiled  in  super- 
stition. By  these  superstitions  the  university 
men  and  the  priests  govern  and  rob  and  tor- 
ment all  classes.  A  priest  in  charge  of  a 
temple  in  Canton  pays  many  thousand  dollars 
($40,000)  for  the  control  of  the  temple.  He 
robs  the  people  by  his  monopolies  to  pay  this 
fee  and  enrich  himself.  Poor  people  pay  to 
him  ten  times  as  much  for  an  incense  stick 
as  it  costs  elsewhere.  Only  sticks  purchased 
in  that  temple  can  be  burned  there.  Women 
pay  enormous  extortions  for  the  privilege  of 
sleeping  on  mats  in  the  temple.  This  priv- 
ilege is  said  to  increase  their  chances  for  male 
progeny. 

All  China  is  robbed  and  persecuted  and  tor- 

3  ZZ 


Missionary  Addresses. 

merited  by  these  cruel  superstitions.  Behind 
the  viceroy's  Yamen  in  Tientsin — that  was  Li 
Hung  Chang's  Yamen  or  Court — there  was 
a  temple  to  Ta  Wang,  the  wind-and-water 
dragon.  A  boat  conveying  a  prefect  was 
nearly  overturned  by  a  sudden  storm.  Some 
boatman  with  his  pole  must  have  carelessly 
disturbed  Ta  Wang.  Careful  search  was 
made,  and  a  small  snake  was  discovered  near 
the  railroad  bridge.  Profuse  apologies  and 
prostrations  were  made  to  it,  and  it  was  care- 
fully carried  with  the  greatest  pomp  and  cere- 
mony to  the  Ta  Wang  temple.  China  is  the 
deepest  pit  of  heathenism,  where  Satan  brews 
his  most  powerful  charms  and  his  most  deadly 
moral  plagues. 

No  human  plummet  can  fathom  this  sea  of 
corruption.  Two  hundred  thousand  natives 
in  Hong-Kong,  many  of  them  born  there  or 
living  there  fifty  years  in  close  contact  with 
intelligent  foreigners,  glad  to  have  the  protec- 
tion of  the  British  flag  and  the  high  wages  of 
a  British  city,  where  silver  is  as  abundant  as 
brass  on  the  main  land,  and  where  no  man- 
darin can  extort  half  or  any  part  of  their 
wages ;  glad  to  be  taught  English  without  cost, 
so  as  to  earn  the  high  wages  of  European 

34 


Missions  and  JVorld  Movements. 

clerks  and  have  the  free  service  of  English 
physicians;  glad  to  be  under  incorruptible 
magistrates  and  just  policemen;  glad  to  live 
in  a  model  foreign  city,  where  they  can  live 
as  they  please  and  follow  their  own  customs 
and  worship  their  own  gods,  with  everything 
to  help  them,  and  nothing  to  disturb  them, — 
in  spite  of  all  this,  they  are  in  all  ranks,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  too  few  to  count,  as 
deeply  dyed  with  superstitions  as  any  who 
never  even  saw  a  civilized  man.  They  are 
bland  and  smiling  and  silent  while  nothing 
unusual  jars  the  public  mind.  But  when  the 
plague  came,  all  their  old  superstitions  came 
to  the  surface.  They  cursed  and  hated  the  for- 
eigners, and  hid  their  sick  from  the  doctors, 
and  refused  to  go  to  the  hospitals,  and  as- 
saulted both  doctors  and  nurses,  and  threat- 
ened to  burn  the  city  and  poison  the  wells. 
They  believed  every  old  superstition,  and 
trusted  their  incantations  and  vile,  filthy  rem- 
edies. The  influences  of  the  clean  and  help- 
ful civilization  in  which  they  had  lived  for 
half  a  century,  but  which  did  not  concern 
itself  much  about  their  religious  enlighten- 
ment, vanished  in  one  hour.  There  remained 
only  hatred  for  the  foreigners  and  the  undis- 

35 


Missionary  Addresses. 

puted  reign  of  Satan.  No  human  power  can 
save  this  people.  Only  the  almighty  grace  of 
God,  that  can  create  anew  the  elements  and 
energies  of  a  moral  nature,  can  make  them 
moral  and  trustworthy  for  the  uses  of  civil- 
ization. 
Family  The  onc  virtuc  in  the  Chinese  character 
'^"  that  has  survived  these  long  centuries  of  op- 
pression and  superstition  that  keeps  society 
from  utter  dissolution,  and  the  State  from  an- 
nihilation, is  the  family  tie. 

The  family  tie  begins  with  the  devotion  of 
children,  strengthens  with  every  year  of  natu- 
ral life,  and  extends  to  the  worlds  out  of  sight, 
in  an  absorbing  worship  of  parents  and  ances- 
tors. There  is  no  limit  to  the  thoroughness 
and  cruelty  with  which  penalty  is  inflicted 
upon  a  child  that  kills  his  father.  In  Foochow 
I  saw  the  traces  of  this  penalty  upon  a  young 
man  who  had  killed  his  father  with  a  hoe  as 
they  worked  in  the  field.  The  officers  chained 
him  to  a  post  in  the  execution  place,  and  com- 
pelled his  mother  to  cut  out  the  first  piece 
from  his  breast.  Then  they  hacked  him 
slowly  into  small  pieces  till  there  was  only  a 
heap  of  refuse  at  the  foot  of  the  stake.  Then 
they  executed  the  mother  for  having  such  a 

36 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

son,  and  the  neighbors  living  next  on  either 
side  for  having  such  a  neighborhood.  Next 
the  officer,  like  a  policeman,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  keep  order  in  that  beat,  was  executed. 
The  officer  above  him,  like  our  sheriff,  was 
banished.  The  Tawtai,  or  governor,  of  the 
district  was  removed  from  office.  Then  they 
burned  down  the  house  in  which  the  man  had 
lived,  and  dug  up  the  ground  under  it  to  the 
depth'of  two  feet,  and  carted  the  dirt  off,  and 
dumped  it  into  the  river.  They  intended  to 
wipe  out  that  wickedness  so  it  could  not 
spread. 

The  family  is  the  unit  in  the  State.    The  en-  Emphasis 
tire  family  is  responsible  for  the  conduct  oi^^"^""^. 

■^  ^  ,  upon  the 

each  member.  There  is  a  mortgage  of  ancient  Family. 
and  constant  custom,  an  unwritten  law,  that 
makes  the  family  responsible  for  the  debts  of 
the  father.  There  is  only  one  way  to  discharge 
a  debt  in  China,  and  that  is  to  pay  it.  It  fol- 
lows the  family  like  an  avenging  spirit,  not 
to  the  third  or  fourth  generation,  but  forever 
till  it  is  paid.  The  family  must  take  care  of 
its  own  poor.  One  man  thrives,  the  indolent 
and  thriftless  live  on  him.  He  must  employ 
them  even  to  the  exclusion  of  competent  serv- 
ice, and  often  even  to  the  ruin  of  his  business. 


Missionary  Addresses. 

This  family  feeling  widens  a  little,  reach- 
ing neighborhoods  and  clans,  but  fails  to 
strengthen  the  Empire.  The  family  tie  is  the 
chief  virtue  planted  in  the  Garden  of  Eden 
that  has  survived  all  the  migrations,  and  all 
the  changes  in  dynasty,  and  all  the  centuries. 
It  absorbs  all  the  natural  vigor  of  patriotism 
and  all  the  supernatural  inspiration  of  relig- 
ion. Its  roots  entwine  the  earth,  and  its 
branches  embrace  the  heavens. 

Another  element  of  strength  in  the  China- 

Co/o«/z- man   is    his    colonizing   power.      He    crosses 

'"^all    seas    and    burrows    into    all    continents. 

Poiver. 

He  surpasses  the  Saxon  in  ability  to  toil 
in  all  climates.  He  matches  the  Russian 
in  enduring  Arctic  storms,  and  surpasses  the 
Negro  in  working  in  the  tropics.  He  is  the 
one  cosmopolitan,  at  home  everywhere,  as  if 
he  owned  the  world.  Silent,  gentle,  submis- 
sive, industrious,  economical,  temperate,  all- 
enduring,  he  thrives  everywhere,— on  the 
mountains,  in  the  deserts,  on  the  plains,  in  the 
islands.  As  the  serpent,  with  his  one  ability 
to  crawl,  competes  in  various  fields,  without 
fins  swims  with  the  fish,  without  hands  climbs 
with  the  monkey,  and  without  feet  runs  with 
the  horse,  so  the  Chinaman,  with  his  one  abil- 

?8 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

ity  of  adaptation,  competes  successfully  with 
the  sailor  on  the  sea,  and  with  the  frontiers- 
man in  the  wilderness,  and  with  the  miner 
under  the  earth,  and  with  the  exile  in  wander- 
ings. He  does  not  ask  for  a  fair  chance.  He 
asks  only  for  a  chance,  so  does  not  try  to 
crowd  anybody.  Once  landed,  he  abides. 
The  individual  changes,  but  the  kind  con- 
tinues. A  human  microbe,  he  multiplies. 
Not  being  a  politician,  all  governments  that 
let  him  alone  suit  him.  He  never  breeds  nor 
joins  revolutions  abroad.  Not  being  a  spe- 
cialist, all  industries  with  a  possible  margin 
attract  him.  He  never  boycotts  any  trade. 
Not  being  ambitious,  except  for  more  cash, 
all  social  orders  that  pay  for  services  are 
equally  satisfactory  to  him.  He  is  pleasing 
to  the  greatest  variety  of  women.  He  mar- 
ries through  the  widest  range  of  races.  Like 
a  mongoose,  he  can  run  through  any  passage- 
way. Though  fond  of  a  palace,  he  can  live 
in  a  closet,  and  make  a  home  anywhere.  As 
gravity  draws  all  rivers  along  the  lines  of  least 
resistance,  so  his  instinct  for  gain  draws  him 
along  lines  where  there  is  the  least  waste  of 
energy.     He  is  the  supreme  colonizer. 

All  countries  are  his, — Siberia,  India,  Bur- 

39 


Missionary  Addresses. 

mah,  Australia,  all  the  Americas,  including 
the  Philippines.  All  the  islands  of  the  seas 
are  his  homes.  He  has  the  largest  colonies 
here  and  there  on  the  earth,  even  larger  than 
the  English  colony  in  Buenos  Aires.  In  the 
Malay  Straits  he  far  outnumbers  the  Malays. 
In  Siam  he  is  nearly  three  millions  strong, 
one-third  the  entire  population  of  that  king- 
dom. But  for  the  fact  that  he  could  not  vote 
in  America,  and  so  left  the  politicians  to  op- 
pose him  in  the  interest  of  those  who  could 
vote,  he  might  have  been  to-day  ten  millions 
strong  under  our  flag.  It  took  all  the  venom 
of  local  prejudices  and  all  the  power  of  the 
General  Government  to  check  this  silent, 
creeping,  ever-pressing  tide. 

In  his  wide  wanderings  he  is  a  factor  wher- 
ever he  lives.  He  owns  and  manages  great 
steamship  lines,  banks,  factories,  mines,  plan- 
tations, mercantile  establishments,  great  cor- 
porations in  the  English  colony  of  Hong- 
Kong,  in  Japan,  in  Singapore,  in  India,  in 
Burmah,  in  Siam.  He  is  a  constant  menace 
to  the  laborer  in  every  labor  market  of  the 
world. 

You  find  over  China  statues  of  scholars,  and 
40 


Missions  and  JVorld  Movements. 

Statesmen,  and  philosophers,  and  literary  men.  The 
but  not  often  of  soldiers.     He  has  no  military     ^"'^' 

■'   man  not 

spirit,  yet  he  has  courage  when  he  is  well  a  Soldier. 
drilled,  commanded,  and  paid.  There  are 
rare  instances  of  heroism.  Some  men  have 
volunteered  as  substitutes  to  be  executed.  He 
believes  in  strategy,  not  arms.  He  fights  be- 
hind walls,  like  a  cornered  rat;  but  before  an 
assault  he  runs  like  an  antelope.  This  spirit 
has  made  it  possible  to  live  in  the  same  world 
with  him.  When  he  shall  find  a  good  drill- 
master,  and  an  able  commander,  and  prompt 
care  when  wounded,  and  certain  pay  for  serv- 
ice, he  will  be  a  splendid  soldier.  Russia  can 
furnish  all  these  lacking  requisites.  England 
sent  a  drill-sergeant  up  the  Nile  into  the  sands 
of  Egypt  to  the  water-carrying  fellahs,  and 
Europe  and  Asia  were  surprised  to  see  these 
recruits  fight  like  ancient  Greeks.  Anything 
the  Egyptian  can  do,  the  Chinaman  can  do. 
What  England  has  done  for  Egypt,  Russia 
can  do  for  China. 

The  greatest  modern  Chinese  statesman, 
Wensiang,  often  said  to  foreign  diplomats: 
"You  are  all  too  anxious  to  wake  us  and  start 
us  on  a  new  road,  and  you  will  do  it;  but  you 

41 


Missionary  Addresses. 

will  all  regret  it;  for,  once  waking  and  started, 
we  shall  go  fast  and  far,  farther  than  you 
think,  and  much  faster  than  you  want." 

Which  Which  way  is  China  going?  In  recent 
ff^ay yQ2ir%   she   has    lost   two-thirds   of   her   terri- 

Goiw^ftory,  though  only  one-twelfth  of  her  popu- 
lation. Yet  there  remain  fifteen  hundred 
thousand  square  miles  of  land,  an  immense 
block  of  available  land,  and  three  hundred 
and  fifty  millions  of  people.  She  may  change 
dynasties,  she  may  come  under  the  control  of 
some  foreign  power;  but  she  will  not  cease  to 
be.  She  will  not  be  wiped  out.  Like  the  king 
in  a  chess-game,  she  may  be  checkmated,  but 
she  can  not  be  removed  from  the  board.  Some 
pawn  or  knight,  some  Japanese  or  Muscovite, 
will  cover  her  exposure  and  continue  the 
game.  Her  very  numbers  is  God's  promise 
of  perpetuity.  The  Yellow  Race  will  remain 
the  menace  of  the  world.  It  lies  on  the  shore 
of  Asia,  a  huge  club,  only  waiting  to  be 
picked  up  by  some  Hercules.  China  is  the 
world's  problem  for  the  twentieth  century. 
Who  will  seize  this  club? 

Russia     We  are  up   against  an  inexorable  propo- 

^    f^^sition.    As  we  peer  into  the  mists  that  veil  the 

Coming  _    ^ 

Poiver.  future,    coming    events    cast    their    shadows 

42 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

toward  us.  There  is  a  huge  figure  approach- 
ing. It  has  a  fur  cloak  over  its  shoulders  and 
a  club  in  its  hands.  It  may  be  the  coming 
Hercules.  Looking  more  closely  it  is  a  Bear, 
the  Bear  that  walks  like  a  man.  After  our 
experiences  during  the  Civil  War,  when  the 
Czar  sent  his  fleet  to  New  York  and  San  Fran- 
cisco to  defend  us  against  intervention,  it  is 
difficult  for  us  to  fear  the  Bear  or  refuse  him 
anything.  It  was  a  crisis  in  our  history.  We 
were  struggling  nearly  up  to  the  limit  of  our 
abilities.  Everything  seemed  to  be  going 
against  us.  We  had  had  a  long  series  of  de- 
feats. The  great  States  were  going  wrong  at 
the  polls.  France  was  setting  up  a  monarchy 
in  Mexico  on  our  very  border.  England  was 
buying  Confederate  bonds,  and  many  of  our 
people  were  rejoicing  that  the  'Svorld  was  to 
be  rid  of  a  dangerous  Republic."  The  cour- 
age of  the  soldier  in  the  field  was  taxed  to  the 
utmost,  and  the  patriotism  of  the  citizen  at 
home  held  on  at  the  hardest  in  the  gloom  and 
the  darkness.  It  was  the  most  critical  hour  in 
the  history  of  the  Republic.  The  emperor  of 
the  French  sent  a  plenipotentiary  to  the  Czar, 
asking  him  to  unite  with  France  and  England 
to  break  the  blockade,  and  recognize  the  Con- 

43 


Missionary  Addresses. 

federacy,  and  end  the  war.  The  Czar  asked 
him  if  that  was  all  he  wanted.  The  French 
plenipotentiary,  seeing  that  the  Czar  was  not 
attracted  to  the  plan,  said:  "No,  not  all.  If 
Your  Majesty  is  not  willing  to  unite  with  us 
in  this  expedition,  we  ask  that  you  will  agree 
to  keep  your  hands  off."  The  Czar  said: 
"The  United  States  is  my  friend,  and  has  been 
the  friend  of  my  fathers  always.  I  can  not 
unite  with  you  in  your  enterprise.  Tell  your 
master  Napoleon  that  if  either  France  or 
England,  or  both  combined,  shall  undertake 
that  enterprise,  then  every  warship  and  sol- 
dier of  Russia  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  United 
States;"  and  as  the  little  Frenchman  was  bow- 
ing himself  out  the  Czar  said:  "Wait  a  mo- 
ment; in  order  that  there  may  be  no  misunder- 
standing about  the  matter,  tell  your  master 
Napoleon  that  I  issue  my  orders  to-night,  and 
my  warships  start  at  once  for  the  harbors  of 
New  York  and  San  Francisco."  There  is  no 
computing  what  this  was  worth  to  us,  and  it 
does  not  become  us  to  forget  this  or  be  dead 
to  gratitude.  Yet  we  must  recognize  facts. 
It  is  a  Bear  standing  on  the  trail.  His  pos- 
ture does  not  change  his  nature.  If  Russia 
appropriates  and   assimilates  China,  we  are 

44 


Missions  and  JVorld  Movements. 

face  to  face  with  the  most  powerful  Empire 
ever  known  among  men.  The  world  problem 
is  this:  Shall  Russia  be  allowed  to  absorb 
China?  This  problem  is  full  of  dragon's 
teeth,  teeth  enough  to  seed  down  the  world 
with  century-long  strifes. 

Russia  is  great.  She  has  one  hundred /?kjj/« 
and  sixty- five  million  people,  and  eight  ^''^'^'^'^■^ 
million,  six  hundred  and  seventy  thousand 
square  miles  of  land.  The  mass  of  her 
people  are  stout  and  solid,  inured  to  hard- 
ship, economical,  able  to  live  as  cheaply  as 
Chinamen.  They  are  ignorant  and  super- 
stitious, zealous  followers  of  the  Czar,  tak- 
ing his  word  as  final  and  almost  divine.  Such 
is  the  Russian  peasant  in  history.  Such  is 
he  to-day.  It  will  take  generations  of  com- 
mon schools,  or  the  rude  shocks  of  bloody  bat- 
tles and  humiliating  defeats,  to  break  the  en- 
chantment of  the  ''Little  Father,"  the  Czar. 
One  block  of  land,  from  the  Polar  Sea  to 
Persia,  and  from  the  Baltic  to  Korea,  with  no 
intervening  sections  of  hostile  or  even  neutral 
territory, — infantry  could  march  over  these 
wide  zones  without  touching  foreign  soil. 

Russia  can  not  be  subjugated.     She  needs 
only  to   retreat  into   certain   of   her  climates 

45 


Missionary  Addresses. 

to    destroy    all    pursuers.      Even    the    genius 

of  Napoleon   could   not  survive  her  neglect 

Russia2L'i   far   south   as   Moscow.      She   can   march 

Incapable  j^^ainst  auv  foe  at  her  own  sweet  will.    If  she 

ofSubju-     b  J  _ 

^rt/7o«wins,  she  can  absorb  the  conquered  territory 
by  Her  fg  pay  the  expenses.    If  she  fails,  she  has  only 

Climates.  .  , 

to  retreat,  wait,  recuperate,  and  try  again. 

The  State,  as  distinguished  from  the  coun- 
try, means  the  Czar.  He  is  the  State.  His 
wealth  surpasses  that  of  any  other  man's 
wealth.  Money  is  more  than  ever  before  the 
sinews  of  war.  The  ancient  David  might  slay 
Goliath,  and  scatter  the  Philistines  with  a 
sling  and  a  smooth  pebble  from  a  common 
brook,  not  worth  more  than  a  Chinese  cash, 
one-eighteenth  of  a  cent;  but  the  -modern 
David  who  could  defend  his  country  or  ex- 
tend her  borders  must  have  steel  ships  and 
twenty-four-inch  guns.  It  costs  $800  or  $1,000 
now  to  hurl  one  pebble  from  some  of  our 
modern  slings.  Money  is  the  sinews  of  war. 
It  takes  a  key  of  gold  to  unlock  the  gate  of 
empire.  The  Czar  is  very  rich;  has  money 
almost  without  limit.  His  unmortgaged  in- 
come approaches  $1,000,000,000  a  year,  and 
would  maintain  perpetually  a  war  as  great  as 
the  late  English  South  African  War.     The 

46 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

debt  of  Russia  is  $3,311,000,000.  Great  as  it 
seems,  it  is  less  than  the  debt  of  England  or  of 
France.  He  has  vast  resources  from  mines 
and  coal  and  timber  lands.  While  all  other 
nations,  except  some  of  the  South  American 
Republic  wildernesses,  are  hunting  for  and 
planting  and  economizing  their  lumber  sup- 
ply, the  Czar  has  over  three  hundred  million 
acres  of  heavy  timber.  He  has  income  from 
rents  and  railroads.  He  owns  twenty-five 
thousand  miles  of  railroads,  and  some  years 
is  adding  to  these  at  the  rate  of  two  thousand 
six  hundred  miles  a  year.  He  has  vast  in- 
come from  the  liquor  trade,  which  he  took 
into  his  own  hands  to  control  its  quality  and 
restrict  its  sale,  and  save  the  peasants  from 
utter  destruction.  No  man  can  buy  liquor  on 
credit.  This  stops  three-fourths  of  the  drink- 
ing among  the  peasants.  According  to  latest 
reports,  his  income  from  all  sources  exceeded 
all  the  expenses  of  the  government  by  $200,- 
000,000.  Out  of  this  he  put  $47,500,000  into 
new  warships,  $21,575,000  into  relief  for  the 
crop  failure,  and  other  millions  he  poured 
into  increasing  the  army.  In  a  time  of  finan- 
cial depression  he  was  not  affected  in  the  least. 
He  pushed  his  great  Siberian  Railroad  seven 

47 


Missionary  Addresses. 

thousand  six  hundred  miles,  his  Trans-Cas- 
pian Railroad,  his  railroads  in  Central  Asia, 
in  Southern  Caucasus,  and  his  railroads  down 
to  the  frontier  of  Austria  and  to  the  frontier 
of  Germ-any,  just  as  if  he  owned  all  the  mines 
and  mints  in  the  world. 

This  great  Siberian  Road,  purely  a  polit- 
ical and  military  enterprise,  is  destined  to 
change  the  map  of  Asia  and  mold  the  destiny 
of  China.  A  great  Russian  statesman  has 
said,  ''We  shall  conquer  China  by  railroads." 
Now  running  along  the  border  of  China  by 
the  thousand  miles  this  road  makes  it  easy  to 
put  Russian  pressure  on  China  at  any  point. 
The  Czar  has  only  to  close  a  little  these  iron 
fingers  on  the  brain  or  on  the  heart  or  on  the 
throat  of  China,  and  his  will  will  be  supreme. 
Knowing  this,  he  has  pushed  the  Siberian 
Road  on  to  its  objective  point  with  all  the  wis- 
dom of  a  capitalist  and  all  the  energy  of  a 
conqueror. 

He  still  has  had  a  large  surplus  which  he 
applies  to  the  development  of  Russia's  bound- 
less resources.  Mr.  Ford  says  in  an  English 
engineering  magazine:  "Mighty  canals  are 
being  cut,  rivers  and  harbors  deepened,  arid 

48 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

regions  irrigated,  forests  cleared,  and  waste 
lands  reclaimed;  cities,  villages,  and  work- 
shops are  being  built,  and  colonies  are  being 
planted  in  new  localities  where  modern  sys- 
tems of  drainage  and  agriculture  are  being 
introduced." 

These  improvements  are  of  the  highest 
character;  depots,  government  buildings, 
opera-houses,  public  halls,  cathedrals,  are  of 
the  most  modern  style,  and  most  permanent 
structures.  The  advances  into  new  regions 
and  toward  possible  conquests  have  all  the 
appearance  of  permanent  occupation.  These 
vast  outlays  are  no  spasmodic  output.  The 
treasury  is  never  exhausted.  The  national 
debt  is  all  the  time  being  regularly  reduced 
fifteen  or  twenty  million  dollars  a  year.  New 
loans  are  floated,  only  to  pay  off  old  bonds 
and  carry  the  debt  at  lower  rates.  Not  a  dol- 
lar of  the  recent  loans  has  gone  into  the  treas- 
ury for  current  expenses.  Russia  has  large 
deposits  in  English  banks.  In  recent  years 
(A.  D.  1890)  one  of  the  London  banks  had  to 
have  the  support  of  the  Bank  of  England  to 
help  it  over  a  close  place.  Russia's  deposit 
there  was  so  great  that  the  Bank  of  England 
4  49 


Missionary  Addresses. 

asked  Russia  "not  to  call  for  her  deposit  till 
a  certain  date,  as  it  would  precipitate  a  finan- 
cial crisis  of  the  utmost  gravity." 
Vast  Re-  Add  to  all  this  the  fact  that  the  resources 
sources.  ^^  China  are  limitless.  Coal,  iron,  copper 
and  oil  are  produced  by  the  million  tons, 
and  their  resources  are  barely  scratched. 
Life-supporting  products  are  created  by  the 
hundred  million  tons.  Improved  agricul- 
ture is  pushed  upon  the  farmers.  Indus- 
tries are  planted  in  every  direction.  Public 
works  open  new  sources  of  knowledge  and 
support  for  large  numbers  of  the  peasantry. 
These  new  industries  are  intended  to  give  the 
peasants  higher  and  varied  occupations. 
They  are  practical  schools  to  elevate  their 
grade  of  intelligence.  The  Empire  covering 
one-eighth  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  about 
one-tenth  of  the  world's  population,  is  a  vast 
workshop.  Russia  is  a  beehive.  The  spirit 
of  the  great  Romanoff  family,  the  greatest 
family  that  ever  sat  on  a  human  throne,  in- 
spires all  ranks  of  the  people  and  of  the  army. 
They  believe  implicitly  in  the  Czar.  Tell 
them  that  such  or  such  is  the  wish  or  will  of 
the  Czar,  and  they  are  quick  to  do  it.  Ask  a 
Russian  anywhere  what  is  the  mission  of  Rus- 

50 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

sia,  and  he  will  say,  "To  save  the  world." 
Ask  a  Russian  officer  where  Russia  is  going, 
and  he  will  point  to  China.  Their  faces  are 
set  to  the  southeast.  It  is  ingrained  into  the 
Russian  conviction  that  they  are  destined  to 
reach  the  warm  sea.  It  is  amazing  to  think 
of  the  vastness  of  the  Czar's  power.  All  the 
energies  of  that  Empire  centralize  in  him. 
The  strength  and  momentum  of  two  conti- 
nents are  compressed  into  him.  He  is  the 
world's  fist. 

With  such  a  Power  rising  in  Europe  and 
Asia,    what    is    impossible    to    it?      That    hJVhat 
the  vital   question.      He  must  be  judged  ^J  ^^^^^^^ 
his   history   and   his   environment.      His   n^it-want? 
ural  and  national  instinct  has  been  forward 
to    open    winter   harbors    to    the    warm    sea. 
He  has  desired  the  warm  sea  with  a  greed 
many  centuries  old.     This  drift  is  a  world 
movement.     It  depends  neither  upon  individ- 
ual men  nor  upon  particular  ages.     It  is  not 
dependent  upon  any  great  military  genius.    It 
requires  only  an  average  ruler,  open  to  the 
instincts  of  his  people. 

Opposition  may  retard  this  movement,  but 
it  can  not  defeat  it.  It  is  a  tide  lifted  by  the 
stars.     It  is  a  gulf-stream  sweeping  onward 

51 


Missionary  Addresses. 

by  the  century,  unaffected  by  State  funerals 
or  adverse  wars  or  the  flight  of  time.  It  is 
silent,  concentrated,  perpetual.  As  the  Muir 
glacier  comes  out  of  the  Alaskan  gorge  from 
thirteen  concentrated,  converged  gorges,  spur- 
ring and  pushing  each  other  forward  till  the 
advance  along  the  main  axis  of  movement  is 
often  visible  to  the  careful  observer,  so  this 
Russian  political  glacier  comes  out  of  all  the 
converging  convictions  of  the  Empire,  pushes 
straight  on  by  a  resistless  grind  toward  the 
warm  sea,  and  it  must  succeed.  It  is  a  world 
grind,  and  only  God  can  stop  it.  Russia  will 
ultimately  reach  warm  water,  but  she  must 
not  absorb  China. 
Can  Can  the  drift  of  recent  years  answer 
9''"'^  whether    China    can    resist    Russia.      China 

Resist 

RussiafhdiS  recently  lost  Siam,  Burmah,  Annam, 
Tibet,  Mongolia,  Tongking,  Formosa,  and 
Korea.  These  are  China's  tracks,  toes  in 
toward  Peking,  away  from  the  narrowing 
frontier.  It  is  not  thinkable  that  she  should 
now  arise  and  reverse  her  direction  and  her 
history  in  a  struggle  against  her  overshadow- 
ing master.  Russia's  advances  are  as  marked 
as  China's  losses.  Russia  has  transformed  the 
map  of  Asia  into  a  series  of  Russian  plateaus, 

52 


Missions  and  IVorld  Movements. 

marking  the  mighty  strides  of  Russia's  prog- 
ress. Look  at  them:  The  Urals,  Western  Si- 
beria, Eastern  Siberia,  Baikalia,  Kamchatka, 
the  Amur,  the  Steppe,  Khiva,  Turkestan,  the 
Merr  Oasis,  Bokhara,  Samarkand, — these  are 
Russia's  footprints,  heels  toward  St.  Peters- 
burg, toes  toward  the  extending  frontier, 
marking  her  strides  over  Asia.  Meantime  her 
naval  base  drifts  south,  tack  by  tack,  Petro- 
paulafsk,  Nikolasefsk,  Vladivostok,  Port 
Arthur. 

She  moves  as  if  she  had  only  to  pick  out  To  jvui 
of  everything  whatever  she  wants.  Is  it  Si-  ^^/-^^^ 
beria?  She  takes  it.  Is  it  Central  Asia?  She 
takes  it.  Is  it  Persia?  She  runs  her  railroads 
to  the  Persian  Gulf  and  takes  the  Persian 
commerce,  knowing  that  where  Persia's  heart 
is,  there  will  she  be  also.  Does  she  want  Mon- 
golia? She  has  only  to  say  the  word.  The 
iron  net  is  fully  spread.  Does  she  want  Tibet? 
She  already  has  her  hand  stretched  under  the 
limb  to  catch  it  when  she  wishes  to  jar  the 
tree.  Her  railroad  runs  seven  thousand  six 
hundred  miles  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Yellow 
Sea,  and  a  branch  is  already  creeping  up  to 
the  Great  Wall  almost  within  cannon-shot  of 
Peking.     With  her  railroad  stations  skirting 

SZ 


Missionary  Addresses. 

the  Chinese  border  for  three  thousand  miles, 
and  thickly  set  with  forts,  and  with  her  navy 
nosing  out  to  the  Yellow  Sea,  she  will  become 
the  only  friend  of  China  whose  advice  must 
ultimately  be  taken. 

The  northern  half  of  China,  all  north  of 
the  Yellow  River,  and  possibly  down  to  the 
Yang-tse,  will  finally  become  her  vassal.  She 
intends  that  her  railroads  shall  not  only  thread 
Manchuria,  but  all  North  China.  The  com- 
merce of  that  great  Empire  will  then  become 
exclusively  Russian.  Differential  rates  on  her 
railroads  will  neutralize  the  "most  favored 
nation"  clause  of  the  treaties.  Without  firing 
a  single  shot,  or  taking  a  single  step  worthy 
of  international  consideration,  with  only  the 
pressure  Russia  knows  so  well  how  to  exer- 
cise, China  seems  likely  to  be  brought  under 
the  absolute  control  of  Russia.  With  a  navy, 
now  only  second  in  rank  and  rapidly  increas- 
ing, much  larger  than  ours,  a  navy  such  as 
Russia  can  easily  put  upon  the  Yellow  Sea 
and  on  the  Pacific,  and  with  vast  armies, 
within  easy  reach,  there  will  be  no  Power  able 
to  dispute  her  advance  or  countermand  her 
orders. 

Russia  attracts   China.     Russia   is   largely 

54 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

Asiatic,  all  Asiatic  except  a  little  European  china 
lieht    let    in    through    St.    Petersburg,    the  ^^'''^''■ 
window  which  Peter  the  Great  opened  into  To^ward 
Europe.     Russia  is  Asiatic.     Napoleon  said,  ^"-f^'^- 
"Scratch   a   Russian,    and   you   have   a  Tar- 
tar."    She   has   the  Asiatic   ability   to   smile, 
and   lie,    and   wait.      She    has    no   value   on 
time.    She  hates  haste.    She  has  the  soft,  com- 
placent,   smiling,     treacherous     face    of    all 
Asiatics.     She  understands  and  suits  China. 
She  yields  and  presses,  and  waits  and  holds 
on.     She  is  only  another  arm  of  the  same  oc- 
topus.    So  China,  repelled  by  and  hating  the 
Saxon    straightforward    integrity    and    haste, 
naturally  sinks  back  into  the  embrace  of  Rus- 
sia.    Her  four  hundred  millions,  drilled  and 
paid  and  commanded  by  Russian  officers,  can 
furnish  armies  without  number,  and  inferior 
to  none. 

Russia  has  supreme  organizing  and  absorb- 
ing power;  a  hundred  nations  and  tribes  have 
been  dissolved  in  this  sea,  and  never  one  has 
ever  been  precipitated.  The  vast  industrial 
possibilities  of  China,  reached  by  steam  and 
electricity  over  waterways  and  railways,  pro- 
jected and  owned  and  managed  by  Russians, 
will  make  her  as  dangerous  in  the  labor  mar- 

55 


Missionary  Addresses. 

kets  of  the  world  as  on  the  battlefields.  Rus- 
sia does  not  want  a  military  conquest  if  she 
can  avoid  it.  She  will  avoid  all  beyond  the 
near  presence  of  her  armies  and  threats.  She 
wants  China  for  the  sake  of  her  incipient, 
and  possibly  boundless,  commerce.  She  wants 
control  of  those  markets  now  ready  for  use, 
as  soon  as  she  can  reach  those  thronging  mil- 
lions with  proper  communication  and  trans- 
portation. It  is  not  Siberia  for  her  own  sake 
she  wants,  where  she  has  to  plant  colonies 
and  slowly  create  trade;  she  wants  Siberia  for 
what  lies  beyond.  It  is  China,  where  the 
/?ttjj/a  population  has  been  waiting  by  the  thousand 
/Tan/jyg^j-g  fQj.  |.j-jg  development  of  commerce.    It  is 

£m/)zwthis  Chma  Russia  would  use  agamst  the  rest 

^•f^of   Asia,    and    against   Europe.      In    Russia's 

^^^fj^^hand   China  will  be   a   deadly  weapon,   and 

/«^/a.  make  Russia  the  greatest  Empire,  ancient  or 

modern. 

Establish  the  Czar's  authority  in  Peking, 
with  a  continuous  frontier  along  India,  from 
the  Upper  Oxus  to  the  Yang-tse  basin  on 
much  of  three  sides  of  that  populous  Empire, 
with  a  home  fleet  on  the  Pacific  superior  to 
the  English  fleets  projected  into  those  waters, 
making  the  transport  of  English  armies  im- 

S6 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

possible,  with  five  hundred  millions  of  people 
whose  flesh  and  blood  are  cheap  obeying  his 
orders,  able  to  drop  armies  into  India  with- 
out number,  unexposed  on  transports,  then  the 
absorption  of  India  will  be  only  a  matter  of 
willing.  The  Russian  Empire,  then  extend- 
ing from  the  Polar  Sea  to  the  Indian  Ocean, 
and  from  Germany  to  the  Yellow  Sea,  cover- 
ing Asia  and  much  of  Europe,  and  controll- 
ing half  the  human  race,  will  put  Europe  in 
greater  peril  than  it  ever  >vas  in  the  days  of 
the  Mongol  Empire  in  the  palmy  days  of 
Jenghiz  Khan  or  Timurlane. 

Russia  is  already  running  her  railroads 
down  to  the  border  of  Austria,  waiting  till 
the  Slav  and  German  elements  of  Austria  shall 
assert  themselves  upon  the  near  death  of  Franz 
Joseph,  the  present  emperor.  Then  the  Czar 
will  be  ready  to  bargain  with  Germany  and 
take  his  Slavs  in  out  of  anarchy,  while  Wil- 
liam III  hovers  his  Germans.  It  looks  as  if 
the  old  Bonaparte  had  the  vision  of  a  prophet, 
when  on  St.  Helena  he  said,  "In  a  century 
Europe  will  be  all  Republican  or  Slav;"  and 
again  he  said,  "If  a  Czar,  brave,  hardy,  gifted 
with  warlike  qualities,  mount  the  Russian 
throne,  he  will  be  able  to  conquer  all  Europe." 

57 


Missionary  Addresses. 

This  is  not  a  dream.  The  Czar,  as  ruler  of 
Asia,  can  do  much  towards  transforming  the 
Pacific  Ocean  into  a  Russian  harbor  or  high- 
way. In  peace,  by  high  duties  and  differential 
rates  over  her  railroads,  he  can  close  all  the 
vast  markets  of  Asia  against  all  non-Russian 
products,  as  he  is  doing  to-day  wherever  his 
double-headed  eagles  float.  He  stops  at  no 
half-way  measures.  He  seeks  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  own  will  with  the  celerity  of  am- 
bition, and  with  the  merciless  thoroughness 
of  fanaticism.  The  Czar  is  accumulating  and 
marshaling  mighty  forces,  and  is  confident 
that  he  can  absorb  China,  and  later  India  and 
the  rest  of  Asia.  He  means  to  reach  the  warm 
Pacific.  But  he  must  not  absorb  China.  The 
Powers  must  resist  him,  and  set  limits  and 
bounds  to  his  ambition  and  to  his  Empire. 
To-night  while  I  speak  I  hear  newsboys  cry- 
ing: "The  strained  relations  between  China 
and  Japan  are  likely  to  break.  Japan  threat- 
ens to  take  the  initiative."  If  this  strife  comes, 
and  Japan  needs  help,  she  must  have  the  moral 
support  of  England  and  America.  Ay,  I  had 
rather  see  America  make  common  cause  with 
Japan  than  see  Japan  wiped  from  the  map 
and  China  absorbed  by  Russia.    Russia  must 

S8 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

not  have  China.  If  the  unexpected,  and  ap- 
parently impossible,  should  happen  and  Japan 
should  whip  Russia  and  thus  control  China, 
we  shall  face  the  same  Pacific  problem  in  an- 
other form;  viz.,  Japan  and  China,  instead  of 
Russia  and  China.  When  this  proximate 
strife  is  over,  whichever  way  it  goes,  I  fear 
most  the  combination  of  all  Asia  against  the 
English-speaking  race,  Saxon  and  Slav  fight- 
ing for  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific  and  for 
the  balance  of  power  on  the  whole  earth. 

An  invisible  and  Almighty  Hand  is  Ar2i\\- The  Lines 
in?  the  lines.  The  Great  Powers  are  silently  ^""^ -^""-^ 
wheeling  into  place.  Sooner  or  later  the 
contest  will  be  joined.  Let  us  catalogue 
the  forces  on  each  side.  On  one  side  is 
Russia,  ambitious,  seeking  more  territory, 
not  for  a  crowded  population — for  she 
already  has  much  room  to  spare — but  for 
strategical  positions  for  future  political  and 
military  conquests.  Rich  beyond  computa- 
tion; compact  in  territory;  one  immense  block, 
buttressed  on  the  north  by  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
cushioned  on  the  south  by  soft  peoples; 
stretching  across  two  continents,  with  little 
east  of  her  to  resist,  and  everything  to  allure 
her,  even  on  to  the  Pacific,  and  confronted  on 

59 


Missionary  Addresses. 

the  west  only  by  Germany;  with  one  hundred 
and  forty  millions  of  devoted,  warlike  sub- 
jects, fanatically  certain  that  Russia  is  or- 
dained of  God  to  conquer  both  Asia  and  Eu- 
rope for  the  salvation  of  the  world;  with  a 
greed  for  conquest  fermented  in  the  blood  for 
many  centuries,  and  with  an  experience  of 
successful  absorptions  wide  enough  to  turn 
the  head  of  the  Sphinx, — with  all  this  power 
concentrated  in  one  unquestioned  will,  can 
there  be  any  doubt  as  to  which  way  Russia 
will  move?  On  the  side  of  Russia  will  be 
found  her  ally,  France,  the  Don  Quixote  of 
the  nations,  though  within  a  few  days  France 
seems  to  be  making  friends  with  England. 
Turkey  must  yield  to  the  old-time  greed  of 
Russia.  So  much  of  Austria  as  is  of  Slav 
origin  will  join  the  Slavs.  The  rest  of  Eu- 
rope will  not  add  much  to  these  forces.  Italy 
is  a  name  on  the  map,  but  not  a  fighting  power. 
Spain  is  a  relic.  These  baptized  and  unbap- 
tized  heathen  will  soon  be  able  to  rally  half 
the  human  race  to  one  standard. 

Against  these  vast  hosts  may  possibly  be 
gathered  the  Saxon  and  Protestant  nations. 
Germany,  that  old  birthplace  and  cradle  of 
Protestantism;  that  camp  in  the  heart  of  Eu- 

60 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

rope ;  that  race  of  soldiers ;  that  land  of  colleges  Germany. 
and  scholars,  and  statesmen,  and  fighters;  that 
nation  that  sung  its  way  from  Berlin  to  Paris, 
tramping  down  all  opposing  armies  as  if  they 
were  only  knocking  ofif  the  heads  of  toad- 
stools; that  bulwark  of  Europe  against  Rus- 
sia, will  give  sympathy,  and  possibly  aid. 
Since  the  fall  of  Bismarck,  who  always 
courted  Russia  at  the  expense  of  England,  it 
looks  as  if  William  III  has  come  to  his  senses 
and  realizes  the  danger  of  the  presence  of  so 
great  and  ambitious  a  neighbor  as  Russia;  as 
if  the  faith  of  his  fathers  was  asserting  itself 
in  his  convictions;  as  if  the  blood  of  his 
mother  and  grandmother,  God's  most  elect 
lady,  Victoria,  was  working  in  his  veins,  and 
that  he  is  turning  the  prow  of  his  Ship  of 
State  toward  the  English  Channel.  When 
Napoleon  was  in  Berlin  he  visited  the  resting- 
place  of  Frederick  the  Great.  He  picked  up 
Frederick's  sword  that  was  lying  on  his  coffin, 
and  carried  it  away  with  him.  When  Unser 
Fritz  went  into  Paris  with  Moltke  at  his  back, 
and  met  the  French  commissioners  suing  for 
peace,  the  first  thing  he  said  was,  "We  have 
come  after  Frederick's  sword."  That  sword, 
dropped  into  the  scales  in  this  strife,  may  tell 

6i 


Missionary  Addresses. 

which  way  the  beam  of  Fate  will  sink.  Let 
us  hope  that  Germany  will  be  true  to  her  his- 
tory and  her  instincts. 
Scandi-  It  is  fairly  safe  to  expect  sympathy  and 
^'^'^^'^"  comfort  from  Scandinavia.  Those  sons  of 
the  Vikings  and  of  the  old  pirate  chiefs; 
those  sons  of  the  heroes  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  who  single-handed  against  all 
Catholic  Europe  for  a  whole  generation 
defended  and  saved  Protestantism  and  Lib- 
erty; these  Scandinavians  who  stood  off,  and 
so  defeated  Peter  the  Great  that  after  one  of 
his  defeats  he  had  the  Te  Deum  sung  in  the 
churches,  saying,  "The  time  has  at  last  come 
when  three  Russians  can  stand  against  one 
Swede :  the  time  will  come  when  we  can  stand 
two  against  one;"  these  Scandinavians  who 
have  a  larger  per  cent  of  people  able  to  read 
and  write  than  any  other  nation  anywhere; 
who,  living  by  their  fjords  and  mountain 
streams,  sing  the  glad  songs  of  liberty  and  are 
as  free  as  any  people  have  ever  been  in  any 
land  or  age;  these  Scandinavians  will  be  true 
to  their  history,  to  their  faith,  and  to  their 
God.  They  will  be  found  on  the  right  side. 
Holland.  It  may  not  be  too  much  to  rely  on  help 
from  Holland,  that  pioneer  of  religious  lib- 

62 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

erty.  Holland  was  the  advance  guard  of 
Freedom  for  two  hundred  years.  She  was 
the  discoverer  of  nearly  every  great  truth 
out  of  which  republics  are  made.  She  dis- 
covered, politically  the  individual  man,  free- 
dom of  conscience,  free  schools  for  boys 
and  girls,  free  press,  free  libraries,  free 
judges,  secret  ballot,  written  constitutional 
limitations  for  the  ruler,  full  subpoenas  for 
the  witnesses  of  the  accused,  and  counsel 
for  his  defense.  Holland  endured  the  tor- 
tures of  the  Duke  of  Alva  without  flinch- 
ing, and  resisted  the  combined  forces  of 
the  Bourbon  family  through  the  long  Eighty 
Years'  War.  She  can  never  be  wanting  when 
she  is  needed.  Japan,  suddenly  rising  into  Japan. 
importance,  long  a  nation  of  sailors  and 
fighters,  now  in  covenant  with  England,  may 
be  counted  against  her  great  and  ancient 
enemy,  Russia.  Her  fleets  and  her  armies, 
her  commerce  and  her  industries,  her  valor 
and  her  new  life,  her  geographical  position 
and  her  ambitions,  make  her  a  great  factor 
in  the  problems  of  the  immediate  future. 
She  so  regards  herself  and  her  mission. 
Her  genius  for  peaceful  achievements  is 
shown  in  her  mounting  so  quickly  to  the  sec- 

63 


Missionary  Addresses. 

ond  place  in  the  commerce  with  China,  and 
in  the  rapidity  with  which  she  assumes  con- 
trol of  her  own  new  industries.  Most  of  her 
railroads,  started  and  handled  by  foreigners, 
are  now  exclusively  Japanese;  not  one  for- 
eigner is  retained  with  them.  Her  ancient 
war  power  has  survived  the  exchange  of  the 
crossbow  for  the  steel  cruiser.  This  is  demon- 
strated by  the  ease  with  which  she  destroyed 
the  naval  power  of  China.  It  is  not  strange 
that  she  should  now  regard  herself  as  one  of 
the  great  Powers,  almost  the  great  Power. 
Count  Okuma,  ex-Minister  for  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, not  long  ago  said  in  a  set  speech:  "The 
European  Powers  are  already  showing  symp- 
toms of  decay,  and  the  next  century  will  see 
their  constitutions  shattered  and  their  empires 
in  ruins.  .  .  .  Who  is  fit  to  be  their 
proper  successors  if  not  ourselves?  .  .  . 
The  Japanese  mind  is  in  every  way  equal  to 
the  European  mind.  .  .  .  We  are  be- 
come one  of  the  chief  Powers  of  the  world, 
and  no  Power  can  engage  in  any  movement 
without  first  consulting  us.  Japan  can  enter 
into  competition  with  Europe  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Oriental  races." 

64 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

In  the  struggle,  England  stands  as  the  England. 
bulwark  of  Liberty,  and  the  defender  of 
Christianity,  and  the  strength  of  Protestant- 
ism. Her  blood,  her  history,  her  faith,  her 
Divine  commission,  her  commerce,  and  her 
high  leadership,  and  almost  her  existence, 
compel  her  to  meet  this  crisis  before  it  be- 
comes a  destiny.  England  is  born  of  all  the 
great  Northern  races.  Her  island  has  been 
a  fort  for  the  control  of  the  Continent.  All 
the  pirates  from  the  high  seas,  and  all  the  free- 
booters from  the  main  land,  all  the  ambitious 
chiefs  and  all  the  most  fearless  adventurers, 
patriots  panting  for  freedom,  and  saints  pray- 
ing for  ease  of  conscience,  warriors  and  mar- 
tyrs marching  in  the  picket-line  of  the  ad- 
vance guard  of  human  progress,  generation 
after  generation,  age  after  age,  for  many  cen- 
turies, have  crowded  into  this  island  fortress, 
and  have  contended  for  a  footing  and  a  future. 
In  the  death-grapple  with  fagot  and  sword 
they  have  staggered  from  shore  to  shore,  bap- 
tizing every  blade  of  grass  with  the  blood  of 
their  martyrs,  and  paving  every  square  yard 
of  their  island  with  the  bodies  of  their  heroes. 
They  have  mingled  their  blood  in  their 
5  65 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Streams  and  in  their  veins,  and  out  of  all  this 
strife  and  agony  has  come  the  most  virile  race 
known  to  history. 
England  She  Calculates  in  marble  counting-rooms 
a  Bank  ^^  J  \'iYt%  in  golden  palaces.  She  does  not  pro- 
Exchange,  oucc  SO  much  as  shc  causcs  others  to  produce 
and  then  divide.  She  stretches  her  arms  over 
all  seas  and  into  all  continents.  She  sends  her 
sons  into  all  the  mines  and  forests  and  harvests 
of  many  lands,  and  they  come  back  with  much 
of  the  world's  wealth.  She  lives  and  labors 
at  arm's-length.  To  be  anything  she  must 
open  her  markets  and  keep  up  her  lines  of 
transportation.  The  heart  of  her  wealth  beats 
inside  her  narrow  shores,  but  she  must  keep 
her  arteries  and  veins  that  net  the  world  in 
safety  and  health.  Let  these  clog,  and  heart- 
failure  will  end  her  career. 

Her  Indian  Empire  fills  many  of  her  cofifers 
and  feeds  many  of  her  millions.  Without  it 
she  might  still  exist,  but  she  would  miss  many 
of  her  luxuries  and  lose  much  of  her  prestige. 
There  have  been  three  great  queens  of  the 
sea, — Tyre,  and  Venice,  and  England.  Tyre 
is  only  a  tradition;  Venice  is  a  remnant;  Eng- 
land, stripped  of  India,  might  be  pushed  from 
her  place  of  power.     She  is  forced  by  her 

66 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

commerce,  and  almost  for  her  very  existence, 
to  stand  at  all  hazards  against  the  shadow  of 
the  returning  Mongol  Empire.  She  can  not 
allow  Russia  to  rule  Asia. 

England's  faith  is  her  soul.  This  is  the 
power  that  gave  her  leadership  and  her  des- 
tiny. She  stands  for  all  that  is  dear  in  free- 
dom and  all  that  is  sacred  in  religion.  Her 
Westminster  Abbey  gives  her  the  stately  pag- 
eant of  her  history  and  the  pride  of  her  great 
families.  But  her  Smithfield,  where  her  mar- 
tyrs, for  the  sake  of  the  truth,  defied  the  stake 
and  the  fagot,  is  the  center  of  her  power  and 
of  her  glory.  The  ashes  from  that  sacred  spot 
have  been  carried  by  the  waves  and  by  the 
winds  to  all  shores  and  over  all  lands,  where 
they  have  sprung  up  in  free  institutions  and 
prosperous  peace.  Nearly  all  her  great  fam- 
ilies know  what  Protestantism  cost  and  what 
made  Smithfield  resistless.  While  the  mem- 
ories of  these  historic  sacrifices  touch  a  chord 
in  the  hearts  of  freemen,  and  England  stands 
for  the  open  Bible,  she  can  never  innocently 
or  safely  hand  over  Asia  to  baptized  and  un- 
baptized  heathenism.  Wherever  the  power 
of  Russia  reaches,  there  mission  work  in  the 
past  has  been  perilous,  and  almost  impossible. 

67 


Missionary  Addresses. 

But  wherever  the  Union  Jack  is  unfurled, 
there  the  Bible  is  wide  open  and  religious 
teaching  is  protected  and  safe.  If  England 
surrenders  Asia  to  Russia,  she  gives  a  new 
lease  of  life  to  heathenism,  and  postpones  the 
triumph  of  the  Cross  for  from  two  to  ten  cen- 
turies. She  surrenders  her  scepter,  and  passes 
into  obscurity,  uncrowned  and  unhonored. 
We  still  hope  that  England  can  never  retreat. 
Like  the  Old  Guard  at  Waterloo,  England 
can  die,  but  she  can  never  surrender.  She 
fought  France  for  three  hundred  years  with 
varying  fortunes,  but  these  strifes  gave  her 
Marlborough  and  Nelson  and  Wellington, 
and  created  her  Empire.  Surely  she  can  af- 
ford to  fight  Russia  twice  that  time,  if  neces- 
sary, to  maintain  her  supremacy  and  perpetu- 
ate her  Empire. 
Another  This  argument,  like  John's  locusts  and  scor- 
''^''"'' pions  in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  has  its  sting 
in  its  tail.  That  other  factor  is  the  United 
States,  our  ambitious,  aggressive,  confident, 
powerful,  dear,  sweet  selves.  Nearly  every 
interest  we  have  is  involved  in  the  solution  of 
this  Chinese  question.  We  are  drifting  in 
this  political  gulf-stream.  We  are  an  Asiatic 
Power.     Russia  ruling  Asia  may  transform 

68 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

the  Pacific  into  a  Russian  harbor  or  highway, 
a  roadstead  across  which  Saxon  and  Slav  will 
struggle.  In  peace  the  Czar  can  close  half 
the  markets  of  the  world  against  us,  and  we 
shall  find  the  cheap  labor  of  all  the  world 
competing  in  our  markets.  Our  labor  will  be 
depressed  as  never  before.  A  small  per  cent 
of  our  possible  appliances  can  glut  all  the 
markets  then  left  open  to  us. 

In  war  the  Czar  will  be  a  colossal  peril  to 
every  nation  having  a  Pacific  exposure.  This 
is  not  a  dream.  It  is  a  situation,  already 
within  the  field  of  vision.  Napoleon  saw  it 
a  century  ago;  Lord  Palmerston  saw  it  half 
a  century  ago;  we  ought  to  be  able  to  see  it 
now.  It  does  not  menace  us  because  we  have 
a  Pacific  Archipelago  in  Far  Eastern  waters. 
It  menaces  us  because  we  have  a  Pacific  front- 
age. When  we  bought  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tories from  Napoleon,  and  shoved  the  prows 
of  our  commerce  into  the  Pacific,  we  gave 
hostages  to  Asia.  With  our  inheritance  comes 
our  new  peril. 

As  long  ago  as  the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
administration  his  voice  was  strong  enough  to 
revolutionize  the  policy  of  Japan.  An  an- 
cient edict  against  Christianity  ordered   the 

69 


Missionary  Addresses. 

suppression  of  the  "evil  sect."  The  revolu- 
tions in  the  sixties  encouraged  native  Chris- 
tians to  confess  their  faith.  The  Mikado 
ordered  their  extirpation.  Mr.  Lincoln  sent 
v^^ord  to  the  Mikado  that  his  edict  was  offen- 
sive to  the  United  States;  .  .  .  that  it  con- 
flicted with  the  Treaty  of  1858;  that  it  con- 
flicted with  toleration  in  the  civilized  world; 
and  that  "the  United  States  can  not  acquiesce 
in  or  submit  to  the  Mikado's  proclamation." 
The  Minister  was  instructed  to  "proceed 
with  firmness  and  without  practicing  injuri- 
ous hesitation,  or  accepting  any  abasing  com- 
promises." Japan  accepted  the  doctrines,  and 
stopped  the  persecution.  We  are  an  Asiatic 
Power. 

The  diplomacy  of  President  McKinley  in 
Peking  concerning  the  Boxer  troubles  was  the 
determining  element  in  the  adjustment.  The 
three  points  urged  by  McKinley  were:  First, 
that  it  was  not  a  war,  but  a  riot,  and  therefore, 
retaining  the  Chinese  Minister,  he  thus  kept 
fifteen  of  the  eighteen  provinces  out  of  the 
strife;  second,  that  the  integrity  of  China 
must  be  maintained,  thus  preserving  the 
"Open  Door;"  and,  third,  that  damages 
should  be  settled  by  a  lump  sum,  thus  pre- 

70 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

venting  the  seizure  of  territory  by  any  indi- 
vidual Power.  The  Powers  came  finally  to 
these  contentions.  The  United  States  sat  at 
the  head  of  the  table  in  fixing  the  afifairs  of 
Asia.    We  are  an  Asiatic  Power. 

We  have  more  at  stake  than  any  other  na- 
tion. The  Isthmian  Canal  will  bring  all  our 
cities  into  close  trade  relations  with  Asia. 
The  vast  multitude  of  Asia  must  come  our 
way,  either  to  trade  with  us  or  with  Europe. 
What  a  future  rises  before  us!  The  great 
cities  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  from  Portland  to 
New  Orleans  have  all  been  built  by  the  com- 
merce from  little  Europe.  What,  then,  shall 
we  say  of  the  cities  to  be  built  on  our  Pacific 
Coast?  Ten  times  the  people,  soon  to  be 
Christian  and  civilized,  with  the  wants  of  civ- 
ilization, will  soon  change  the  face  of  our 
Continent.  To-day  we  face  Europe.  To- 
morrow we  shall  face  Asia.  To-day  San 
Francisco's  harbor  is  our  back  door.  To- 
morrow the  Golden  Gate  will  be  our  front 
door,  and  Europe  will  be  behind  us.  Much 
of  the  largest  part  of  our  wealth  will  soon  be 
west  of  the  Mississippi.  Our  great  cities  and 
forts  will  be  on  the  Pacific.  A  thousand  mil- 
lion people  crowding  in  will  tramp  the  high- 

71 


Missionary  Addresses. 

ways  into  pavements.  By  the  side  of  their 
trails  vast  cities  must  spring  up.  Cheap  power 
will  soon  lift  and  carry  and  distribute  the 
waters  of  the  great  mountain  regions  till  all 
those  deserts  shall  blossom  like  gardens.  The 
most  desirable  climate,  the  richest  and  deep- 
est soil,  the  accumulated  nutrition  of  ages 
heaped  upon  those  sage-brush  plains,  easily 
irrigated,  there  will  be  found  a  thousand  mil- 
lion people  crowding  these  plains  like  the  old 
valley  of  the  Nile.  What  a  city  San  Fran- 
cisco must  be!  With  no  port  near  her,  with 
a  coast-range  preventing  any  other  natural  en- 
trance for  hundreds  of  miles,  with  those  long 
granite  arms  reaching  up  and  down  the  coast 
to  gather  into  that  most  capacious  harbor  the 
countless  ships  freighted  from  populous  Asia, 
— with  all  these  helps  and  stimulants,  the 
world's  greatest  metropolis  will  be  built  by 
the  Golden  Gate.  We  have  more  interests  ex- 
posed to  the  Pacific  storms  than  any  other  na- 
tion. We  ought  not  to  sit  idly  by  while  our 
destiny,  like  the  Savior's  seamless  garment,  is 
being  gambled  for  before  our  very  eyes.  If 
necessary,  we  ought  to  join  Japan  rather  than 
give  Japan  and  China  to  Russia. 
The  strife  of  all  times  will  be  to  decide 
72 


Missions  and' World  Movements. 

whether  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific,  which  fTe  skaii 
will  be  the  bulk  of  the  world's  commerce,  ^""f';""^ 

'  Russia. 

which  will  mean  the  dominating  power  of  the 
world,  shall  be  Russian  or  American;  whether 
the  Pacific  with  its  interests  shall  be  Slav  or 
Saxon,  shall  be  for  absolutism  or  liberty. 

Almost  in  spite  of  ourselves,  certainly  by 
no  planning  of  our  own,  we  are  being  put  in 
shape  for  this  struggle.  Our  decks  are  being 
cleared  for  action. 

Hawaii  is  the  one  only  and  supreme  str at-  Haivaii. 
egical  point  in  all  the  wide  Pacific  for  the 
defense  of  our  coast  that  has  come  to  us  at  the 
right  time.  It  is  the  only  point  where  a  hostile 
coaling  station  would  be  dangerous  to  us. 
From  Alaska  to  the  Isthmus,  from  America 
to  Japan,  this  is  the  only  spot  where  coal  and 
water  could  be  obtained.  Four  times  it  has 
been  held  by  foreign  Powers.  Once  we  re- 
jected it  when  offered  to  us.  Some  Power 
wiser  than  our  statesmen  wanted  us  to  have 
it,  so  it  floated  back  to  us  with  its  Pearl  Har- 
bor. Now  we  want  it.  Never  again  will  it 
be  tumbled  about  the  public  market. 

On  the  other  side  we  have  the  Philippines,  PA/7t>- 
stretched  along  the  coast  of  Asia.     They  are^"*^-^- 
the  very  doorkeepers  of  Asia.    A  hand  reach- 

73 


Missionary  Addresses. 

ing  out  from  Manila  can  put  a  finger  or 
thumb  on  the  principal  ports  of  China,  Japan, 
Korea,  Siam,  and  Annam.  If  the  nails  on 
those  fingers  are  battle-ships,  they  can  easily 
throttle  those  thoroughfares  of  commerce. 
We  did  not  want  the  Philippines;  but  now 
nobody  else  can  have  them.  When  Dewey 
took  Manila  a  great  Chinaman  said,  "This  is 
the  salvation  of  China;  she  will  not  be  par- 
titioned." 

Russia  sold  us  eighteen  thousand  miles  of 
North  American  coast-line.  Secretary  Sew- 
ard asked  the  Russian  Minister,  "How  much 
do  we  owe  you  for  sending  your  war-ships  to 
New  York  and  San  Francisco?"  The  Russian 
answered:  "We  can  not  put  in  a  bill.  Our 
relations  with  England  are  always  strained. 
It  cost  us  $7,200,000.  There  is  Alaska.  We 
do  not  count  it  worth  anything.  Give  us 
$7,200,000  for  Alaska  and  we  will  call  it 
square."  Seward  accepted  the  ofler,  and  told 
the  senators,  "This  is  a  bill  we  must  pay  if  we 
have  to  sell  our  shirts  to  raise  the  money." 
Thus  Alaska  dropped  into  our  hands.  We 
did  not  want  it;  but  now  we  mean  to  keep  it. 
No  double-headed  eagle  must  ever  again  light 
on  this  Continent. 

74 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

France  sold  us  another  stretch  of  Pacific 
Coast  for  $15,000,000,  and  now  there  is  not 
enough  money  in  France  to  buy  it  back,  nor 
Frenchmen  enough  in  the  world  to  take  it 
from  us.  We  are  being  prepared  for  the  com- 
ing strife.    Our  decks  are  being  cleared. 

The  struggle  is  between  the  Far  East  and 
the  Far  West.  It  is  a  grapple  of  civiliza- 
tions. Let  us  hope  that  all  Protestant  nations 
and  Japan — just  protesting  against  nearly 
everything — will  stand  together,  and  present 
such  a  solid  front  that  Russia,  even  though 
hoping  to  rule  all  Asia,  may  hesitate  to  dis- 
turb the  peace,  and  be  compelled  to  resort  to 
her  lifelong  policy  of  delay  and  diplomacy 
and  pressure,  and  thus  make  room  for  better 
agencies  than  the  sword,  and  time  for  better 
principles  to  obtain  the  mastery.  Sooner  or 
later  Russia  will  reach  the  warm  sea;  but  she 
must  not  have  all  Asia.  She  must  be  checked 
and  held  where  she  is  by  the  Powers  till  China 
is  Christianized  in  principles  and  civilized  in 
fact.  The  great  Protestant  nations  may  use 
diplomacy  to  gain  time.  The  last  forty  years 
civilized  Japan  and  prepared  her  to  join  Eng- 
land on  the  side  of  freedom  in  the  combina- 
tions against  Russia.    Seventy-five  years  more 

75 


Missionary  Addresses. 

may  so  transform  China  as  to  make  her  an  ally 
instead  of  an  enemy.  Sir  Robert  Hart  regards 
"China  as  a  menace  to  the  civilized  world," 
and  suggests  only  two  remedies, — First,  the 
partition  of  the  Empire  among  the  Powers,  a 
course  embarrassed  by  many  difficulties;  sec- 
ond, the  miraculous  spread  of  Christianity,  a 
not  impossible  but  scarcely  to  be  hoped-for 
religious  triumph,  which  would  convert 
China  into  the  friendliest  of  friendly  Powers." 
We  are  confronting  a  crisis.  Once  in  the 
rapids,  the  current  is  swift  and  the  cataract  is 
near  and  inevitable.  When  a  falling  man  has 
slid  from  a  high  roof  we  say,  "He  is  a  dead 
man!"  though  he  has  not  struck  the  pavement. 
The  forces  are  liberated  that  will  kill  him. 

With  Russia  actually  occupying  Manchuria 
and  fortifying  Vladivostok  and  Port  Arthur, 
with  her  Siberian  railroad  finished  to  warm 
water,  the  crisis  is  actually  upon  us.  There  is 
no  time  to  waste.  Our  Isthmian  Canal  at  sea- 
level  should  be  pushed  as  Russia  has  pushed 
her  railroads.  Our  navy,  now  third  in  rank, 
must  be  brought  up  speedily  to  the  first  rank, 
and  we  must  hold  ourselves  ready  to  master 
and  hold  the  Pacific.  Saxon  and  Slav  are  run- 
ning to  get  in.    The  Pacific  is  the  fort.    Who- 

76 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

ever  gets  in,  masters  the  world  and  stamps  the 
world.  It  must  be  free,  or  despotic  for  cen- 
turies. 

If  the  storm  breaks  upon  the  world  too  sud- 
denly, and  all  the  other  Powers  stand  back 
and  leave  the  contest  to  the  English-speaking 
peoples,  we  even  then  can  defend  our  rights, 
save  the  world  from  Russian  absolutism,  and 
meet  the  high  obligation  thrust  upon  us  by  a 
friendly  Providence,  provided  that  we  under- 
stand that  the  strife  is  like  the  old  tolke-knife 
strife  of  the  Swedes,  where  the  contestants  are 
bound  together  by  a  rope  around  their  waists, 
are  armed  with  a  stout  knife,  and  fight  to  the 
finish,  a  mortal  strife ;  provided  that  we  under- 
stand its  decisive  character,  and  have  but  one 
argument,  and  that  war  to  the  bitter  end; 
that  we  have  but  one  plan,  and  that  victory 
or  death;  that  we  have  but  one  purpose,  and 
that  the  absolute  control  of  the  Pacific,  cost 
what  it  may.  With  such  convictions  and  pur- 
pose, we  can  help  Liberty  to  her  last  and  final 
triumph,  and  secure  civil  and  religious  free- 
dom for  mankind  forever. 

A  wise  and  sleepless  Providence  has  cared 
for  us,  even  before  our  cradles  were  made, 
and  furnished  defenses  for  our  use.     About 

77 


Missionary  Addresses. 

the  great  walled  cities  of  China  and  Japan 
I  have  seen  the  old  deep  moats  to  be 
flooded  for  defense.  So  about  the  great 
groups  of  English-speaking  peoples  and  pos- 
sessions God  has  dug  and  flooded  His  deep 
and  almost  impassable  moats.  Look  at  them! 
The  United  States,  Canada,  England,  South 
Africa,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand,  are  pro- 
tected by  God's  moats.  Some  one  who  fixes 
the  bounds  and  habitations  of  the  nations  in- 
spired and  ordered  these  Colonies  and  States 
and  Empires.  The  channel  and  the  tempest 
did  most  to  destroy  the  Spanish  Armada.  So 
God  has  made  ready  His  channels  and  can 
easily  cut  the  leashes  of  storm  and  tempest 
about  these  centers  of  English-speaking  peD- 
ples,  these  homes  of  liberty  and  Christianity. 
It  is  for  us  merely  to  use  the  defenses  offered 
us.  This  Isthmian  Canal,  that  last  possible 
revolution  in  the  geography  of  the  world, 
must  be  put  through.  We  must  have  a  great 
navy  that  can  offset  any  navy  created  by  Rus- 
sia, and  so  practically  neutralize  the  tens  of 
millions  of  soldiers  possible  to  Asia. 
Another  Ouv  remaining  duty  is  the  enlistment 
^"'■^"  and  marshaling  of  forces  that  surpass  all 
other  forces  in  the  field,  the  spiritual  forces 

78 


Missions  and  Woj'ld  Movements. 

of  God's  Government  and  Providence.  How 
can  I  enter  this  field?  Who  can  venture 
into  the  war  counsel  of  the  Almighty?  God's 
heart  is  fixed  and  His  mind  is  set.  He 
says:  "O  that  there  were  such  an  heart  in  you 
that  you  would  hear  My  voice!  How  can  I 
give  you  up?  The  kingdoms  of  this  world 
shall  become  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of 
His  Christ."  "Nevertheless  I  will  be  inquired 
of  by  the  house  of  Israel  to  do  these  things." 

We  must  work  and  use  the  human  agencies,  God 
but  the  victory  comes  only  from  God.    When  ^"^^'-^  ^'"' 
we  have  come  to  our  limit,   God  comes   i^^- prayer 
Our   extremity   is   God's   opportunity.      FsluI  of  Israel. 
may  plant  and  Apollos  water,  but  it  is  God 
that  giveth  the  increase. 

It  is  borne  in  upon  me  to  say  to  these  Pr^^'^r. 
workers  that  the  time  for  prayer,  agoniz- 
ing prayer,  sacrificing  prayer  has  come. 
We  are  only  playing  with  this  matter  of  sav- 
ing the  world.  We,  as  a  Church,  have  not 
yet  straightened  our  traces  on  this  load.  Dur- 
ing the  Civil  War  we  gave  in  money  and  in 
our  credit  as  a  nation,  an  average  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  a  year  for  each  man,  woman  and 
child  to  re-establish  this  Government  and  give 
freedom  to  three  million  slaves,  whose  bodies 

79 


Missionary  Addresses. 

only  were  in  bondage.  Surely  virtue,  econ- 
omy, industry,  temperance,  honest}',  must 
count  for  something.  We  must  be  up  to  the 
average.  We  gave  our  pro  rata  share.  Surely 
if  this  mission  work  were  upon  us  with  the 
same  burden  and  pressure  and  grip,  we  could 
give  as  much  in  cash  and  credit  for  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  blessed  Government  of 
our  God  over  a  lost  and  revolted  world,  and 
to  give  freedom  to  a  thousand  million  helpless 
ones  in  the  direst  bondage  of  both  body  and 
soul.  That  is  not  impossible.  That  means 
that  our  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  alone, 
instead  of  struggling  to  raise  one  million  and 
a  half  in  a  year,  could  raise  more  than  three 
hundred  million  dollars  a  year.  I  know  you 
stagger  as  I  do  at  these  figures;  but  we  have 
given  this,  and  if  we  were  near  enough  to  the 
Son  of  God  to  hear  the  broken-hearted  sobs 
and  feel  the  anguish  of  Gethsemane;  if  we 
were  near  enough  to  the  chiseled  rock  of  Cal- 
vary to  hear  that  agonizing,  heart-breaking 
cry  that  rent  the  veil  of  the  temple,  and  rent 
the  trembling  rocks  of  that  bloody  summit, 
and  rent  the  granite  doors  of  death,  and 
echoed  through  the  universe  as  if  the  wrath  of 
the  Lamb  were  driving  suns  and  stars  from 

80 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

His  presence,  that  one  only  cry  in  all  the 
eternities  breaking  the  infinite  heart  of  God, 
"My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me!" — if  we  could  really  hear  that  cry,  we 
could  easily  repeat  and  surpass  these  old  gifts 
for  the  war.  Even  if  we  gave  only  one-third 
of  it,  what  could  not  be  done  with  one  hun- 
dred million  of  consecrated  and  holy  money? 
The  world's  salvation  is  reduced  to  a  question 
of  dollars  and  cents.  We  have  the  blood  of 
the  atonement.  We  have  the  resurrected  Son 
of  God.  We  have  the  Gospel.  We  have  the 
experience  of  saving  grace.  We  have  the  the- 
ology. We  have  hosts  of  scholarly  believers. 
We  have  the  material  agencies.  Bibles,  presses, 
steamboats,  railroads,  translations,  grammars, 
and  the  open  doors  of  the  world,— all  the  ap- 
pliances, ready  and  waiting.  All  we  lack  is 
the  money.  We  have  not  scratched  the  sur- 
face of  our  possible  giving.  God  pity  us! 
Jesus  pleads.  He  says:  "I  emptied  Myself  of 
the  glory  I  had  with  the  Father  before  the 
worlds  were  made.  I  had  all  the  wealth  of 
all  the  worlds,  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily;  yet,  for  your  sakes,  to  save  you,  to 
save  the  world,  I  exchanged  the  scepter  that 
swayed  over  all  intelligences  for  the  spikes 
6  8i 


Missionary  Addresses. 

of  a  felon's  cross,  exchanged  the  songs  of  the 
angels  for  the  hooting  of  the  mob,  exchanged 
the  unspeakable  glory  of  the  Eternal  Court 
for  the  gloom  of  a  human  sepulcher;  for  your 
sakes  I  became  so  poor  that  I  had  not  where 
to  lay  My  head.  Now  I  call  upon  you  to 
come  after  Me,  to  take  up  your  cross  and  fol- 
low Me,  knowing  that  if  any  man  have  not 
My  Spirit  he  is  none  of  Mine.  Come  up  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord 
against  the  mighty!"  What  is  our  answer? 
Our  giving  is  only  sixty  cents  a  year.  This 
is  no  answer.  O,  Thou  sorrowing  and  dying 
Son  of  God,  have  mercy  upon  us!  Pour  Thy 
Spirit  upon  us  till  we  count  it  all  joy  to  give 
and  sacrifice  for  Thee,  till  we  understand  the 
fellowship  of  Thy  suffering! 
First  Our  need  is  mighty  prayer,  that  our  eyes 
^^^'^may  be  opened;  that  our  hearts  may  be 
opened;  that  our  pockets  may  be  opened. 
Our  day  is  passing  swifter  than  a  weaver's 
shuttle.  It  is  borne  in  upon  me  that  the 
Son  of  God  is  weeping  over  us  as  He 
wept  over  Jerusalem,  saying,  "How  oft 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together 
as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not!"     May  we  awake 

82 


Missions  and  JVorld  Movements. 

and  pray  lest  we  hear  the  rest  of  the  sentence, 
"Behold  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate!" 

We  are  within  reach  of  Asia.  We  can 
crowd  our  messengers  into  China  and  India. 
God  can  yet  reach  those  millions.  God  can 
yet  give  us  the  liberality  necessary  to  reach 
and  save  the  seven  hundred  millions  of  China 
and  India.  These  lands  are  still  open.  God 
will  hear  and  answer  prayer.  My  faith  looks 
up  to  Thee,  Thou  Lamb  of  Calvary. 

We  must  pray  mightily  for  Russia.     yV^  There  is 
ought  to  enter  Russia  with  a  great  missionarv^^^'^^ 

rr^i  1  11  Russia. 

force.  There  she  stands,  blocking  the  door  of 
the  future.  As  I  look  at  her  she  seems  the 
greatest  field,  the  most  inviting  field  under 
the  stars.  One  hundred  and  forty  millions 
of  people,  not  an  effete  race,  the  virile  and 
conquering  race  of  all  Asia;  most  of  them  free 
from  idolatry,  with  the  open  Bible  in  their 
hands,  and  observing  the  forms  of  Christian 
worship;  most  of  them  within  the  reach  of 
Christian  altars,  lacking  the  spirit  of  the  gos- 
pel, lacking  the  saving  power  of  the  gospel, 
lacking  the  personal  experience  of  the  new 
life  received  by  faith  only  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Just  now,  since  we  last  met,  the  Lord  has 
touched  the  heart  of  the  Czar,  and  the  doors 

83 


Missionary  Addresses. 

of  Russia  have  swung  back.  The  hinges  set  in 
bigotry  for  generations,  clogged  with  the  rust 
of  centuries,  have  moved  back,  pushed  by  the 
hand  of  God.  The  Czar  has  ordered  univer- 
sal religious  liberty  throughout  his  wide  Em- 
pire. God  can  bring  the  spirit  of  the  people 
up  to  the  liberal  edict  of  the  Czar.  This  field, 
with  the  open  Bible  and  with  open  gates,  is 
white  and  ready  for  the  reapers. 
Russia  There  never  was  such  demand  for  prayer, 
J'J^^^^^  prayer,  mighty  prayer  for  Russia,  that  God 
Saved,  will  pour  out  His  Spirit  upon  Russia  and  call 
to  the  minds  of  that  people  the  Word  which 
He  has  spoken  to  them.  He  can  quicken  this 
Word,  now  lying  dormant  in  their  hearts,  and 
sweep  over  that  Empire  in  miraculous  power. 
God  can  raise  up  some  Wesley,  who  will  call 
the  dead  Greek  Church  from  its  sepulcher, 
and  make  it  stand  on  its  feet.  Our  high  duty 
is  prayer,  prayer,  prevailing  prayer  for  Rus- 
sia; prayer  that  God  will  arouse  the  Powers 
to  preserve  the  integrity  of  China;  prayer  that 
God  will  put  a  bit  in  the  teeth  of  Russia,  say- 
ing, "Thus  far  mayest  thou  go,  and  no 
farther,"  till  vital  godliness  shall  burn  in  all 
Russian  hearts;  prayer  that  God  will  show  us 
these  fields  and  make  us  feel  their  greatness; 

84 


Missions  and  World  Movemenis. 

prayer  that  God  will  inspire  within  us  the 
spirit  of  consecrated,  abundant  giving  up  to 
the  limit  of  our  ability;  prayer  that  God  may 
display  resistless  supernatural  power  in  the 
miraculous  spread  of  the  gospel  over  China; 
prayer  that  the  gospel  may  speedily  reach  and 
conquer  every  caste  and  family  of  India; 
prayer  that  the  Holy  Ghost  may  fall  upon  all 
the  cold  altars  and  upon  all  the  formal  and 
nominal  Christians  of  all  Churches,  quicken- 
ing them  into  spiritual  life;  prayer,  agonizing 
prayer,  that  the  command  of  the  Son  of  God 
to  go  into  all  the  world  may  so  sink  into  every 
professing  Christian's  heart,  that  he  can  find 
no  rest  till  he  is  willing  to  go  or  send. 

Our  God  is  the  living  God.  He  hears  and 
answers  prayer.  Daniel  called  upon  Him, 
and  the  mouths  of  the  lions  were  closed.  He 
can  close  the  mouth  of  the  Bear. 

Elijah,  the  Tishbite,  stood  against  Ahab, 
and  said:  "As  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  liveth, 
before  whom  I  stand,  there  shall  not  be  dew 
nor  rain  these  years  but  according  to  my 
word."  These  were  heroic  words  of  faith. 
Such  was  his  faith  that  the  heavens  were 
turned  to  brass  and  the  earth  to  drifting  dust. 
This   same  prophet  went  up   to   the   top   of 

8s 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Carmel,  and  cast  himself  down  upon  the  earth, 
and  put  his  face  between  his  knees,  and  called 
upon  God  for  rain.  Six  times  he  sent  his  serv- 
ant to  look  toward  the  sea;  but  the  servant 
returned,  saying,  "There  is  nothing."  The 
heavens  were  still  as  brass  and  the  earth  as 
powder.  But  the  old  prophet's  faith  failed 
not.  He  held  on  to  God,  and  sent  his  servant 
the  seventh  time.  Then  the  servant  returned 
and  said,  "Behold,  there  ariseth  a  little  cloud 
out  of  the  sea  like  a  man's  hand!"  Thus 
Elijah's  prayer  closed  and  opened  the  win- 
dows of  heaven.  His  prayer  loosed  the  forces 
of  famine  and  death,  or  bound  them  at  his 
will.  The  God  of  Elijah  still  hears  and  an- 
swers prayer.  We  must  go  up  into  the  mount 
of  prayer.  Already  there  is  a  little  cloud  over 
Asia  like  a  man's  hand.  It  is  possible  to  make 
it  a  mighty  flood.  It  shall  be  unto  us  accord- 
ing to  our  faith. 

This  old  record  bristles  with  supernatural 
power  from  end  to  end.  It  is  one  long  demon- 
stration that  God  hears  and  answers  the  cry 
of  His  children.  There  is  hardly  a  page  that 
does  not  display  supernatural  answer  to  prayer 
clear  enough  to  found  and  vindicate  a  super- 
natural Church.     We  have  not  forgotten  the 

86 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

deliverance  of  the  Hebrew  children,  Shad- 
rach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego.  They  said: 
*'0  Nebuchadnezzar,  we  are  not  careful  to 
answer  thee  in  this  matter.  If  it  be  so,  if  you 
do  cast  us  into  the  burning  fiery  furnace,  our 
God  whom  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver  us  from 
the  burning  fiery  furnace,  and  He  will  de- 
liver us  from  out  of  thine  hand,  O  king.  But 
if  not,  even  if  He  does  not  deliver  us,  we  are 
worth  more  to  burn  than  for  any  other  pur- 
pose. But  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee,  O 
king,  that  we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor  wor- 
ship the  golden  image  which  thou  hast  set 
up."  The  king  was  wroth.  The  furnace  was 
heated  seven  times  more  than  it  was  wont  to 
be  heated.  These  men  were  bound  in  their 
coats,  their  hosen,  and  their  hats,  and  their 
other  garments,  and  were  cast  into  the  midst 
of  the  burning  fiery  furnace.  The  strong  men 
that  cast  these  men.  into  the  furnace  were 
killed  by  the  flames.  But  these  three  men  fell 
down  bound  into  the  midst  of  the  burning 
fiery  furnace.  Then  Nebuchadnezzar  was 
astonished.  He  said:  "Did  we  not  cast  these 
three  men  bound  into  the  midst  of  the  fire? 
.  .  .  Lo,  I  see  four  men  loose,  walking  in 
the  midst  of  the  fire,  and  they  have  no  hurt, 

87 


Missionary  Addresses. 

and  the  form  of  the  fourth  is  like  the  Son  of 
God."  The  king  called  out,  "Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abednego,  ye  servants  of  the 
Most  High  God,  come  forth  and  come 
hither."  And  the  princes,  governors,  and  cap- 
tains and  counselors,  saw^  these  men,  upon 
w^hose  bodies  the  fire  had  no  power,  nor  was 
a  hair  of  their  head  singed,  neither  were  their 
coats  changed,  nor  the  smell  of  fire  had  passed 
on  them.  (Dan.  iii,  16-27.)  '^he  king  said, 
"There  is  no  other  god  that  can  deliver  after 
this  sort."  But  our  God  can  deliver  after  this 
sort.  He  can  do  it  to-day  as  easily  as  in  the 
days  of  these  three  Hebrew  children.  He  is 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  If 
we  will  call  upon  Him,  and  refuse  to  bow 
down  to  the  gods  of  Fear  and  Doubt,  and 
stand  up  straight  for  Him,  willing  to  take 
whatever  comes,  the  form  of  the  fourth,  like 
unto  the  Son  of  God,  will  walk  with  us 
through  the  kindling  fires  of  this  world's  em- 
pires, and  bring  us  out  without  our  having 
our  garments  changed,  without  having  a  hair 
of  our  head  singed,  and  without  the  smell  of 
fire  upon  us.  He  hears  and  answers  prayer. 
Peter  was  cast  into  prison  and  kept  for  the 
day  of  execution.     But  the  little,  persecuted 

88 


Missions  and  World  Movements. 

Church  in  the  house  of  John  Mark  and  his 
mother,  Mary,  called  upon  God,  and  God 
heard  and  said  to  one  of  His  angels:  "There 
is  My  servant  Peter;  thrice  He  denied  Me, 
but  now  he  is  in  prison  for  Me.  And  the 
little  Church  there  is  praying  day  and  night, 
and  asking  Me  to  deliver  him.  Go  and  bring 
him  out  of  prison,  and  let  him  go  to  the  Pray- 
ing Society  yonder  in  Mary's  house."  Then 
the  angel  went  down  to  the  prison,  and  went 
into  the  dungeon  w^here  Peter  was  chained. 
He  needed  no  key,  for  He  who  gave  to  the 
iron  its  cohesion  had  sent  him,  and  the  bolts 
recognized  the  authority  of  their  Maker,  and 
slid  back  before  His  messenger.  He  needed 
no  torch,  for  his  face  illumined  the  dungeon 
as  if  a  sun  had  risen  in  it.  He  smote  Peter 
on  the  side,  and  Peter  arose,  and  the  chains, 
manacles,  and  shackles  fell  off,  and  the  dun- 
geon door  stood  aside,  and  the  great  gate  of 
the  outer  wall  recognized  God's  angel  and 
rolled  back  to  let  him  pass.  There  is  nothing 
difficult  for  God  when  His  believing  children 
need  Him  and  ask  for  His  help.  He  did  hear 
and  answer  the  crying  little  society  in  Mary's 
house,  and  did  miraculously  deliver  Peter. 
So  He  will  hear  this  Methodist  Church  if 

89 


Missionary  Addresses. 

only  we  call  upon  Him,  and  He  will  deliver 
His  cause  from  peril.  We  are  at  the  parting 
of  the  ways.  We  are  in  the  breach.  It  is  for 
us,  by  our  works  and  prayer,  to  decide. 

Look  at  Moses  yonder  on  the  mountain 
pleading  for  Israel.  There  on  the  plains 
stretches  the  camp  of  Israel.  In  the  midst  of 
the  camp  is  an  altar  and  the  golden  calf. 
Israel  is  on  her  face  worshiping  the  calf,  and 
saying:  "These  be  thy  gods,  O  Israel,  that  took 
thee  by  the  hand  and  led  thee  out  of  the  house 
of  bondage."  God's  anger  is  stirred,  and  he 
says  to  Moses :  "Go,  get  thee  down  to  thy  peo- 
ple whom  thou  hast  brought  out  of  Egypt; 
for,  behold,  they  have  corrupted  themselves." 
Moses,  poor  little  Moses,  who  the  other  day 
did  not  dare  to  speak  even  to  poor  little 
Pharaoh,  now  in  this  hour  of  destiny  stands 
boldly  before  his  angered  God  and  asks, 
"Why  is  Thine  anger  kindled  against  Thy 
people  whom  Thou  broughtest  out  of  the  land 
of  bondage?"  God  said,  "Let  Me  alone  that 
Mine  anger  may  wax  hot  against  them." 
Moses  clung  to  the  very  vesture  of  God,  and 
cried,  "Where  are  Thy  promises  to  Abraham, 
to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob?"  God  said,  as  if  to 
buy  him  off,  "I  will  make  of  thee  a  great 

90 


Missions  and  World  Movements, 

people."  Moses  held  fast,  crying:  "What  will 
the  heathen  say,  that  Thou  broughtest  out 
Thy  people  into  the  wilderness  to  slay  them? 
If  Thy  promises  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and 
to  Jacob  fail,  blot  me  out  of  Thy  Book,  but 
spare  Israel."  The  honor  of  God  was 
touched,  and  He  was  held  in  the  grip  of  heroic 
sacrifice.  He  yielded,  and  Israel  was  spared. 
Brothers,  what  vast  responsibilities  rest  upon 
us  who  have  the  promises  of  God!  If  we,  as 
a  Church,  will  rise  to  the  heroism  of  our  crisis, 
and  by  believing  prayer  cry,  "O  God,  have 
mercy  upon  us;  take  our  substance  according 
to  Thy  will,  take  ourselves  for  any  service, 
and,  if  need  be,  take  even  our  children,  but 
save  great  Asia,  and  bring  this  world  into  the 
light  and  liberty  of  the  gospel!" — if  only  we 
will  thus  pray  and  give  and  believe,  God  will 
hear  us  as  certainly  as  he  heard  Moses.  This 
generation  of  believers  will  see  the  salvation 
of  this  generation  of  sinners,  and  the  king- 
doms of  this  world  will  become  the  kingdom 
of  our  God  and  of  His  Christ. 


91 


II. 

OUR  OPPORTUNITY. 

[This  subject  was  assigned  to  Bishop  Fowler  by  the  Open 
Door  Emergency  Commission  as  the  keynote  for  the  Cleveland 
Missionary  Convention,  held  October  21-24,  1902.  This  was  the 
first  great  convention  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Open  Door 
Emergency  Commission,  and  was  one  of  the  agencies  successfully 
used  for  awakening  the  Church  on  the  subject  of  missions.  This 
address  bore  its  full  share  of  responsibility  in  that  Convention.] 

Opportunity  is  power.  What  we  ought 
to  do  we  caji  do.  When  God  opens  a  door 
before  a  people,  that  is  His  command  to  them 
to  enter,  and  His  promise  to  back  them  to 
the  extent  of  His  resources.  This  law  under- 
lies leadership.  History  is  full  of  the  transfer 
of  power  from  the  theoretical  leader  to  the 
actual  leader.  In  the  critical  hour  the  multi- 
tude stands  back.  Some  man,  able  to  see  God 
and  read  events,  steps  forward  into  the  breach ; 
other  men  catch  his  inspiration,  gather  about 
him,  obeying  his  order;  the  good  cause  is  ad- 
vanced and  buttressed;  a  new  figure  appears 
in  history,  and  a  new  name  is  found  on  the 
scroll  of  Honor.     Whenever  a  people  sees 

92 


Our  Opportunity. 

God's  beckoning  hand,  and  hears  His  call, 
and  is  obedient  to  the  heavenly  vision,  then 
they  rise  to  higher  levels,  take  up  heavier  bur- 
dens, achieve  greater  results,  and  reap  wider 
harvests  for  God.  But  whenever,  through 
fear  or  selfishness  or  diversion,  they  hesitate 
and  doubt,  then  they  see  some  braver  people 
step  to  the  front  and  take  the  place  which  they 
might  have  had. 

The  Great  Doors  of  the  World  are  not 
often  swung  wide  open.  God  waited  many 
centuries  for  a  Gutenburg  or  a  Columbus; 
also  many  centuries  for  a  Luther  or  a  Wesley. 
Moreover,  the  Great  Doors  do  not  stand  open 
before  a  man  or  people  long  unused.  They 
swing  back  again.  A  door  opened  in  the 
house  of  Cornelius  for  Peter  to  become  the 
Great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  But  Peter 
feared  and  turned  back  toward  Judaism,  and 
God  called  another.  He  found  him  on  the 
highway  near  Damascus,  Saul  of  Tarsus,  and 
sent  him  "far  hence  to  the  Gentiles,"  and  gave 
him  the  glory  of  transforming  Christianity 
from  being  the  religion  of  a  subjugated  prov- 
ince at  the  foot  of  the  Mediterranean  to  be- 
coming the  religion  of  all  races  over  all  lands 
for  all  ages. 

93 


Missionary  Addresses. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  a  Great  World 
Door  opened  before  a  man  or  people.  France 
had  a  high  day  of  opportunity  when  Protes- 
tantism almost  reached  the  throne.  Saint  Bar- 
tholomew's massacre  shut  the  door  in  her  face. 
She  staggered  back,  through  centuries  of  su- 
perstition and  ignorance  and  cruelty,  to  the 
Reign  of  Terror.  So  great  was  the  crime  of 
Saint  Bartholomew's  Day  that  God  has  not 
yet  forgiven  it.  Poor  France,  glorying  in 
Dreyfus  trials,  lies  like  an  infected  tatter  on 
the  threshold  of  the  Twentieth  Century.  It 
is  a  fearful  thing  to  have  a  Great  World  Door 
shut  against  a  people.  South  America  saw 
the  Great  Open  Door  when,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century,  the  English  flag  was  un- 
furled over  Montevideo  at  the  mouth  of  the 
La  Platte.  She  bid  fair  to  be  a  great  free 
people,  with  a  steady  government  and  the 
wealth  of  a  Continent  in  her  hands;  but 
treachery,  bribery,  and  crime  hauled  down 
that  flag  and  turned  that  Continent  back  to 
the  superstition,  and  slavery,  and  cruelty,  and 
robbery  of  Spain.  The  hand  of  the  inquisitor 
sealed  up  the  Continent  again.  It  is  a  fearful 
thing  to  have  a  Great  World  Door  shut 
against  a  people. 

94 


Our  Opportunity. 

"Once  to  everj^  man  and  nation  comes  the  moment  to  decide, 
In  the  strife  of  Truth  with  Falsehood,  for  the  good  or  evil  side. 

Careless  seems  the  great  Avenger;  history's  pages  but  record 
One  death-grapple  in  the  darkness  'twixt  Old  Systems  and  the 

Word ; 
Truth  forever  on  the  scaffold,  Wrong  forever  on  the  throne; 
Yet  that  scaffold  sways  the  Future,  and  behind  the  dim  unknown 
Standeth   God   within   the   shadow,   keeping   watch   above   His 

own." 

God  has  opened  the  Great  Doors  of  the 
World  to  Methodism,  and  is  beckoning  her  to 
enter  in  and  possess  the  kingdom.  These 
Doors  open  on  every  side.  We  can  hardly  go 
amiss.  The  only  chance  to  miss  everything 
is  to  stand  still  in  our  old  tracks.  I  can  re- 
member when  we  were  praying  God  to  open 
the  lands  of  heathenism.  This  prayer  has 
long  since  been  answered.  Now  we  must  pray 
God  to  send  forth  laborers  into  the  field  where 
the  harvest  is  already  white.  But  we  are  es- 
pecially called  upon  to  consider  the  fields  re- 
cently opened  to  us,  and  new  openings  in  old 
fields  which  constitute  part  of  the  emphasis 
put  upon  our  attention  in  these  last  three  or 
four  years. 

It  is  difficult  wisely  to  interpret  Providence. 
God  writes  in  such  large  characters  that  few, 
if  any,  are  able  to  read  and  accurately  inter 

95 


Missionary  Addresses. 

pret  what  is  written.  An  Indian  carried  a 
chip  upon  which  a  Plymouth  soldier  had  writ- 
ten a  message  to  his  family.  It  was  to  him  a 
deep  mystery  that  awed  him.  He  carried  it 
with  reverence  and  holy  fear.  He  could  not 
read  and  understand  what  was  written.  But 
he  saw  the  marks,  and  knew  that  the  chip 
would  talk  to  those  who  could  read  the  writ- 
ing. Somewhat  in  this  way  we  see  the  pur- 
poses of  Providence.  We  can  not  accurately 
interpret  his  writing  upon  the  sky  and  in 
events,  but  we  know  that  something  is  there 
recorded.  Some  time  some  revelation  of 
Providence  will  come.  It  is  for  us  to  know 
that  His  will  is  being  written.  We  must  study 
it  as  carefully  as  possible,  and  do  our  best  to 
follow  its  indications. 

In  personal  decisions  it  is  a  simple  rule  to 
follow  where  things  open  naturally  at  the 
seams.  This  is  nature's  order  to  follow  the 
line  of  least  resistance.  When  events  thrust 
a  land  up  into  the  center  of  the  field  of  vision, 
it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  we  are  called  to  look 
upon  it  and  inspect  It.  When  a  child  is 
dropped  into  the  lap  of  a  family,  that  is  a 
clear  indication  that  God  wants  that  family 
to  care  for  that  child.     When  a  country  is 

96 


Our  Opportunity. 

dropped  into  the  lap  of  a  people,  it  is  safe  to 
conclude  that  God  wants  that  people  to  care 
for  that  country.  The  determining  elements 
are  three  in  a  righteous  cause, — need,  acessi- 
bility,  and  ability.  Need  and  accessibility  on 
the  part  of  the  people  who  are  to  be  helped; 
ability  on  the  part  of  the  people  who  are  to 
help.  When  these  points  are  settled,  the  call 
is  clear;  when  these  three  planets  are  in  con- 1 
junction,  that  constitutes  a  call  from  HeavenJ 
If  God  ever  entered  into  our  history  from 
the  holding  of  North  America  for  Protestant 
Christianity  to  the  present  hour,  it  was  when 
He  dropped  the  Spanish  Colonies  of  Porto 
Rico  and  the  Philippines  into  our  lap.  We 
were  perfectly  contented  with  our  borders. 
We  were  well  trained  in  minding  our  own 
business.  We  had  not  the  slightest  idea  of 
ever  touching  the  neighboring  islands.  We 
had  a  great  ruler  and  statesman  a  generation 
ago.  President  Grant,  who  advised  us  to  buy 
Cuba  and  avoid  troubles.  But  we  were  so 
bent  on  avoiding  foreign  complications  that 
we  all  cried  out  against  it;  all  parties  vied 
with  each  other  in  abusing  him  for  it.  So 
he  said,  "If  you  do  not  want  to  provide  against 
trouble,  you  need  not.  Only  wait."  So  we 
7  97 


Missionary  Addresses. 

sat  down  again  in  our  contentment,  and  never 
expected  to  sail  out  of  our  home  waters.  We 
went  into  Havana  Harbor,  and  slept,  and 
dreamed  of  peace,  when,  all  unexpectedly, 
God  shook  us  up.  Just  as  He  said  to  the  old 
prophet,  "What  do  you  here?  Wake  up! 
Get  up!  Go!"  so,  on  that  awful  14th  of  Feb- 
ruary in  1898,  the  Spanish  touched  off  a  mine 
under  the  Maine,  and  we  woke  up,  and  got 
up,  and  went  up.  God  said,  "Up!  Go! 
Everywhere!  Stay!"  We  were  blown  from 
Havana  to  Manila.  We  hardly  knew  where 
we  were.  Not  one  in  a  hundred  of  our  adults 
even  knew  where  Manila  was.  Some  of  us 
knew  that  there  was  some  little  place  where 
some  Manila  matting  was  made.  Instead  of 
wanting  the  Philippines,  we  hardly  knew 
them  when  we  ran  against  them  on  the  sea. 
You  remember  Mazeppa  was  bound  to  a  wild 
horse  and  turned  loose  in  the  desert,  and  he 
says: 

"Thus  the  vain  fool  who  strove  to  glut    . 
His  rage,  refining  on  my  pain, 
Sent  me  forth  to  the  wilderness. 
Bound,  naked,  bleeding  and  alone, 
To  pass  the  desert  to  a  throne." 

So  the  Spaniard  "strove  to  glut  his  rage,"  and 
sent  us   forth,   "bound,   naked,  bleeding  and 

98 


Our  Opportunity. 

alone,  to  pass  the  desert  to  a  throne."  Thus, 
as  of  old,  Providence  rules  and  overrules,  and 
makes  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  Him,  and 
restraineth  the  remainder  of  His  wrath,  so 
that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them 
that  love  the  Lord;  to  us,  if  we  love  Him  and 
keep  His  commandment;  viz.,  "Go  ye  into 
all  the  world."  If  ever  man  or  people  had 
greatness  thrust  upon  them,  we  have  been  so 
treated.  The  explosion  under  the  Maine  blew 
us  out  of  our  wornout  baby-clothes,  blew  us 
up  into  the  whole  world,  to  take  up  a  man's 
burden  and  do  a  man's  work.  We  were  not 
asked  whether  we  wanted  to  be  born  or  not. 
We  were  simply  projected  into  being  and  told 
to  make  the  most  of  it.  There  are  but  two 
gates  through  which  we  can  escape  our  re- 
sponsibilities of  being:  First,  back  by  the  way 
of  inactivity  and  sluggishness,  through  the 
gate  of  imbecility;  second,  off  to  one  side  by 
the  way  of  suicide,  through  the  gate  of  crime. 
We  have  hold  of  the  great  wheel  of  being; 
we  can  not  let  go;  we  must  go  upward  and 
onward.  So  we  were  not  asked  whether  we 
wanted  to  take  these  Spanish  Colonies  or  not; 
we  were  simply  blown  up  onto  the  top  of  the 
world,  and  these  Colonies  were  dropped  into 

99 


Missionary  Addresses. 

our  lap,  and  we  are  told  to  make  the  most  of 
them. 

There  are  but  two  ways  in  which  we  can 
escape  our  responsibilities:  First,  by  putting 
on  a  fool's  cap  and  going  away  back  and  sit- 
ting down  among  the  fools,  whom  Nature  dis- 
likes. They  always  have  to  take  everybody 
else's  dust.  Under  the  great  law  of  nature, 
only  the  fittest  survive.  Second,  by  commit- 
ting hara-kari  to  make  room  for  somebody 
else  to  grow  strong,  using  us  as  a  fertilizer. 
We  do  not  want  the  fool's  cap,  nor  are  we 
ready  to  become  mere  fertilizer.  We  have 
not  yet  exhausted  our  Divine  initial  impulse. 
Our  last  train  has  not  yet  gone,  leaving  us  be- 
hind the  depot  helpless.  We  are  not  yet  re- 
duced to  work  out  forms  and  formulas  that 
once  embodied  the  experiences  of  living,  ad- 
vancing, heroic  souls.  We  are  in  the  early 
morning  of  our  workday.  Our  golden  sun  of 
opportunity  is  just  rising  in  the  East,  in  the 
Far  East.  Girding  on  our  armor  in  the  vigor 
of  early  manhood,  we  must  go  forth  to  con- 
quer. 

The  Philippines  invite  us.  Yesterday  it 
was  a  crime  to  own  a  Bible  or  read  it, 
for  which   heroic   men   were   shot   as    trait- 

lOO 


Our  Opportunity. 


ors  or  banished  as  enemies  of  the  Estab-  T/ie 
lished  Church.  To-day  the  Bible  is  free;^^"^'^' 
there,  under  a  free  flag.  The  exiles,  hearing 
that  there  is  a  new  flag  over  the  Philippines, 
are  coming  back  and  crowding  our  services. 
In  Manila  alone  eleven  thousand  prisoners, 
condemned  for  offenses  not  known  to  Free- 
dom as  crimes,  have  been  taken  out  of  the  cells 
and  chain-gangs  and  restored  to  liberty.  Yes- 
terday, under  the  union  of  Church  and  State 
in  the  Spanish  rule,  neither  property,  nor 
family,  nor  life  was  safe.  So  bad  was  the 
administration,  and  so  cruel  the  persecution, 
that  religion  became  fit  to  be  rejected.  It  is 
worse  to  make  religion  fit  to  be  rejected  than 
it  is  afterward  to  reject  it.  Account  for  the 
situation  as  we  may,  the  fact  remains  that  the 
most  thoroughly  hated  creatures  in  the  Philip- 
pines are  the  friars.  No  matter  what  comes, 
the  Filipinos  will  not  accept  the  friars.  The 
friars  can  not  return  to  their  churches.  Even 
"Uncle  Sam's"  bayonets  could  not  make  the 
people  tolerate  them.  An  ofiicer  asked  a 
prominent  man,  a  Roman  Catholic,  "How  is 
it  that  you  have  so  many  churches  and  no 
priests?"  The  man  said:  "We  can  not  bear 
them;  they  can  not  come  back.     Ten  priests 

lOI 


Missionary  Addresses. 

came  back.  Where  are  they?  Ten  from  ten 
leaves  nothing.  It  would  take  a  standing 
army  to  keep  them  alive  here."  The  Pope 
and  his  advisers  have  made  their  supreme 
blunder  in  the  Philippines  by  keeping  the 
friars  there.  The  islands  are  now  wide  open. 
Multitudes  of  the  people  are  asking  for  the 
simple  gospel.  The  services  of  a  single  Sab- 
bath have,  in  more  than  one  instance,  secured 
a  membership  of  over  one  hundred  communi- 
cants, earnest  seekers.  There  are  a  thousand 
islands,  and  millions  of  people  accessible  and 
needy.  Their  need  of  the  gospel  is  down  to 
the  famine  point.  They  are  turning  toward 
Methodism  by  the  thousand.  They  can  not 
go  back.  Their  past  is  full  of  the  world's 
direst  spectres.  Fortunes  absorbed  by  a  mi- 
serly hierarchy,  necessities  extorted  by  merci- 
less confessors,  families  desolated  by  de- 
bauched hypocrites, — these  are  the  spectres 
that  haunt  the  past  of  the  Filipinos.  The 
return  of  the  old  shepherds,  the  friars,  like 
sending  wolves  among  sheep,  is  only  driving 
the  people  to  seek  a  pure  and  enlightened 
faith.  The  world  never  before  furnished  a 
harvest  so  white  for  the  reapers.    The  door  is 

102 


Our  Opportunity. 

wide  open.     Our  opportunity  confronts  us; 
God  says,  "Give  ye  them  to  eat." 

On  the  other  hand,  here  beckons  Porto  Rico. 
It  is  by  our  side.  It  is  under  our  flag.  It  is 
inhaling  our  spirit.  It  is  learning  our  lan- 
guage. It  begins  to  think  in  English.  It  is 
expanding  under  our  freedom.  It  is  growing 
rich  on  our  capital.  It  is  being  strengthened 
by  our  youth.  It  has  a  past  seared  into  their 
very  flesh  by  the  same  branding  iron  that 
has  marked  the  Filipinos.  They  are  pushed 
toward  us  by  a  tornado  of  cruelty.  It  is  for 
us  to  open  before  them  the  broad  welcome  of 
a  pure  and  peaceful  gospel.  Their  six  or 
eight  principal  cities  should  be  seized  by  us 
without  a  month's  delay.  Our  knowable  sal- 
vation and  joyous  personal  experience  should 
be  within  their  reach  at  once.  A  million 
people,  in  a  tropical  garden  sure  to  overflow 
with  wealth,  call  to  us.  Our  own  sons,  who 
are  being  carried  there  by  the  tides  of  trade, 
demand  of  us  churches  and  altars  and  Sunday- 
schools,  where  they  may  be  nourished  and 
kept  in  the  faith  of  their  fathers.  The  policy 
forced  upon  us  by  the  indifference  of  our 
Church,  and  the  emptiness  of  our  missionary 

103 


Missionary  Addresses. 

treasury,  is  a  policy  of  dwarfs  and  a  disgrace 
to  a  great  people,  who  could  multiply  the  two 
or  three  men  we  have  there  by  a  hundred,  and 
make  that  island  glad  with  the  songs  of  salva- 
tion, if  only  we  would  open  our  eyes  to  the 
beckoning  hands,  and  our  hearts  to  the  call 
of  God. 
Only  a  Great  and  inviting  and  inspiring  as  are 
Fringe,  ^-j^ggg  ^^^  fields ;  vast  enough  to  fire  the  am- 
bition and  inspire  the  zeal  of  every  valiant 
soul ;  vast  enough  to  arouse  the  energies  of  any 
slumbering  Church;  vast  as  are  these  new 
fields,  they  are  only  a  narrow  fringe  on  the 
great  unwashed  heathenism  now  spread  out 
before  the  Church.  In  India  and  China  more 
than  half  the  human  race  are  ready  for  evan- 
gelization. If  the  great  heathen  masses  now 
upon  the  hands  of  the  Church  should  sit  down 
to  an  ordinary  dinner,  and  all  these  new  un- 
gospeled  peoples  of  Porto  Rico  and  of  the 
Philippines  should  undertake  to  wait  upon 
them,  there  would  be  more  than  seven  hun- 
dred and  fi'fty  millions  of  people  that  these 
waiters  could  never  reach.  The  table,  un- 
served, thickly  seated  on  both  sides,  would  ex- 
tend across  all  the  continents  and  over  all  the 
seas   of   the   earth.      It   would    reach   twice 

104 


Our  Opportunity. 

around  the  globe  itself.  These  are  accessible 
and  inviting.  These  are  open  doors.  Open 
doors,  did  I  say?  No!  Not  doors!  Not 
measured  openings  marked  on  the  edges  by 
gaping  hinges!  Not  doors!  Here  the  very 
sides  of  the  world  are  taken  ofif,  so  that  any- 
body, coming  from  anywhere,  can  come  to  the 
center.  Here,  in  these  uncovered,  exposed 
hundreds  of  millions,  here  are  our  opportu- 
nities. 

India  is  under  a  safe  and  stable  government. 
India  is  penetrated  in  all  directions  by  the 
modern  modes  of  travel  and  communication, 
so  that  the  available  service  of  the  missionary 
is  extended  to  fifteen  hundred  years  in  length. 
He  is  able  to  reach  in  travel,  in  his  thirty 
years,  as  many  as  he  could  reach  without  these 
appliances  in  fifteen  hundred  years.  India, 
by  a  new  and  ruling  people,  Is  permeated  with 
the  spirit  of  a  new  life  and  new  race,  and  by 
her  presses  and  publications  she  multiplies 
the  power  and  Instruction  of  her  missionaries 
and  teachers  a  thousand  fold,  or  ten  thousand 
fold.  This  India,  with  her  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions, calls  to  us.  Thousands  upon  thousands 
are  asking  for  the  Bible,  and  waiting  for  the 
Christian  sacraments.     In   the   district  of   a 

105 


Missionary  Addresses. 

single  presiding  elder  fifty-five  thousand  souls 
have  made  personal  request  for  baptism,  to 
w^hom  the  Church  can  not  respond,  because 
she  can  not  find  the  four  dollars  a  month  to 
feed  the  readers,  "the  holders  up,"  to  teach 
these  people  the  Word  of  God.  Here  is  one 
of  our  opportunities.  Talk  about  chances  to 
work  in  the  vineyard!  Talk  about  invest- 
ments that  will  pay  a  hundred  per  cent!  If 
only  the  Church  would  open  her  eyes!  This 
great  opportunity,  this  great  whitening  har- 
vest, has  grown  up  from  the  long  decades  of 
scattering  the  seed  of  the  kingdom.  She  has 
the  right  of  the  Divine  call  to  this  field;  she 
has  the  right  of  original  investment.  Her 
duty  is  measured  only  by  the  measure  of  her 
abilities. 

These  fields  must  be  handled  in  detail  by 
men  who  have  prayed  and  toiled  over  them 
by  the  span  of  their  lives,  and  have  given  to 
them  the  glory  of  their  manhood.  I  hasten  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  world's  great  field — 
China. 
Our  China  is  our  great  opportunity.  If  God 
^''f'^'had  undertaken  to  rivet  the  attention  of  the 

Field—  .  ' 

China. 'World    upou    China,     He    could    not    have 
done    more    in    this   vineyard    than    He    has 

io6 


Our  Opportunity. 

done.  The  uninspired  human  mind  can 
hardly  conceive  of  a  solitary  additional  mark 
of  emphasis.  Every  startling  thing  that  we 
can  conceive  as  suited  for  such  a  purpose  has 
been  substantially  paralleled  and  set  forth  be- 
fore our  very  eyes.  Tell  the  story  of  this  Di- 
vine challenge  to  the  world's  attention  to 
China  in  the  simplest  and  most  matter-of-fact 
way,  in  the  plainest  prose,  and  give  it  to 
strangers  as  Homer's  "Iliad"  and  the  Old 
Testament  are  given  to  us,  and  they  would  say 
it  is  a  collection  of  poetical  inspirations  and 
ballads  sung  by  wandering  minstrels,  as  some 
people  characterize  the  epics  of  Homer;  or 
that  it  is  a  collection  of  myths,  as  some  skep- 
tics characterize  the  books  of  Moses.  Do  you 
want  hoary  antiquity  to  awaken  your  vener- 
ation toward  the  actors?  The  principal  fig- 
ure on  the  stage  is  the  oldest  nation  of  the 
world,  a  people  that  was  an  ancient  people 
many  centuries  before  there  was  any  Saxon, 
or  Briton,  or  Gaul,  or  Goth,  or  Vandal,  or 
Roman,  or  Greek;  a  people  that  were  swarm- 
ing out  of  that  old  hive  of  the  race,  Mongolia, 
and  coming  down  through  the  Hankow  Pass, 
before  Abraham  was  called,  or  the  Pyramids 
were  built.     Do  you  want  long  lines  of  indi- 

107 


Missionary  Addresses. 

vidual  pedigrees  to  enrich  and  make  the  bluest 
blood  known  among  men?  Here  you  have 
individual  pedigrees  that  rise  in  the  ages  in 
unbroken  line  for  more  than  forty  centuries. 
Do  you  want  veneration  for  learning?  Here 
you  have  people  that  have  had  competitive 
literary  examinations  for  office  for  more  than 
four  thousand  years,  and  that  can  to-day  fur- 
nish from  a  single  town  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand competitors  for  a  literary  prize.  Do  you 
want  practical  economies  and  tireless  indus- 
tries? Here  you  meet  a  people  that  can  take 
three  crops  a  year  from  the  same  soil  and 
leave  it  as  rich  as  they  found  it,  and  can  sup- 
port in  comparative  comfort  twice  as  many 
people  to  the  square  mile  as  are  famishing  in 
the  valley  of  the  Ganges.  Do  you  want  the 
cumulative  interest  that  inheres  in  vast  num- 
bers of  one  genus  or  race  under  one  govern- 
ment? Here  you  have  hosts  that  far  exceed 
the  combined  hosts  of  all  the  Americans,  and 
all  the  English,  and  Scotch,  and  Irish,  and  all 
the  Germans  of  the  great  German  Empire, 
and  all  the  Russians  of  the  vast  Russian  Em- 
pire, and  all  the  hosts  of  all  the  kindgoms  of 
Europe,  all  put  together.  Do  you  want  an- 
cient and  crowded   altars,  where   immortals 

1 08 


Our  Opportunity. 

feel  after  God,  if  haply  they  may  find  Him? 
Here  are  faiths  old  as  the  race,  and  single 
characters  worshiped  by  more  people  than 
ever  repeated  in  prayer  any  other  name  ever 
known  among  men.  Surely  this  Peking  trag- 
edy, on  the  very  top  of  the  world,  in  the  very 
face  of  the  sun,  and  before  the  very  eyes  of 
every  civilized  human  being,  calls  the  world's 
attention  to  China.  God  Almighty  has  struck 
the  world  with  the  hammer  of  His  eternal 
purpose,  to  awaken  us  from  our  lethargy.  He 
is  saying,  "Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and  see 
your  task,  your  burden,  your  opportunity,  and 
your  possible  glory!"  If  any  event  or  series 
of  events  in  known  history  may  be  regarded 
as  Providential,  surely  we  are  safe  in  so  re- 
garding the  recent  events  in  China. 

The  deep  needs  of  China  constitute  her 
strongest  claim.  As  a  mother  gives  her  clos- 
est attention  to  her  sickest  child,  turns  from 
her  prattling  darlings  to  the  one  struggling 
for  life  in  the  grip  of  the  fever,  feeling  that 
that  one  needs  her  most,  so  the  great  heart  of 
God  yearns  most  tenderly  over  China  on  ac- 
count of  her  fierce  and  threatening  maladies, 
her  extreme  necessities. 

This  man  in  his  delirium  dismisses  his  phy- 
109 


Missionary  Addresses. 

sicians,  drives  away  his  nurses,  and  pitches  his 
medicine  into  the  sewer.  This  spasm  of  en- 
ergy does  not  demonstrate  that  he  does  not 
need  medicines  and  nurses  and  physicians.  It 
rather  demonstrates  that  he  has  the  greatest 
possible  need  of  them.  The  worst  type  of  sin, 
the  most  perilous  condition  of  the  sinner,  is 
that  described  in  the  Scriptures  as  being 
"seared  as  with  a  hot  iron."  When  a  man  is 
contented  in  his  depravity,  then  he  has  gone 
beyond  the  ordinary  redemptive  agencies. 
Then  God  must  hasten  after  him  the  strongest 
angels  of  His  afflicting  Providence,  and  strike 
him  where  he  lives.  So  it  is  also  with  nations, 
and  peoples,  and  races.  China  has  many  signs 
of  this  extreme  lostness,  this  seared  numbness. 
Her  conceit  and  vanity  and  ignorance  shut 
out  the  truth,  eclipse  the  Sun  of  Knowledge, 
and  wall  up  the  gates  of  Progress.  She  has 
been  so  contented  with  herself  that  nothing 
better  could  be  desired.  Her  teachers  declare 
her  "moral  code  the  best  human  mind  can 
formulate;"  all  classes  believe  this  as  firmly 
as  we  believe  in  the  law  of  gravitation.  It 
is  to  them  as  certain  as  any  law  of  nature. 
One  of  their  great  emperors,  a  thousand  years 
ago,    said,    "The    teaching   of    the    Sages    is 

no 


Our  Opportunity. 

adapted  to  the  Chinese  as  water  is  adapted  to 
fish."  The  relation  of  the  Chinese  to  the 
Sages  is  that  of  fish  to  water:  when  one  dries 
up,  the  other  dies.  It  is  taught  to  the  people 
that  foreigners  come  from  a  remote  and  bar- 
ren and  narrow  corner  of  the  earth,  where 
they  can  produce  neither  tea-leaves  nor  rhu- 
barb. Without  tea-leaves  they  have  nothing 
to  drink;  without  rhubarb  they  are  absolutely 
unable  to  digest  their  food.  They  spread 
upon  their  fans  maps  of  the  world  in  which 
China  covers  four-fifths  of  the  fan,  and  the 
other  fifth  is  assigned  to  the  English,  French, 
and  Mohammedans.  Their  defenses  are 
strengthened  by  the  wooden  shutters  in  the 
windows  over  their  city  gates,  as  these  are 
decorated  with  paintings  representing  the 
muzzles  of  cannon.  One  sees  on  the  sides  of 
their  boats,  near  the  prows,  painted  eyes.  Sit- 
ting on  the  deck  of  a  house-boat,  going  up  the 
Peiho  one  day,  I  let  my  limbs  hang  over  the 
side  of  the  boat.  They  hung  over  their 
painted  eyes.  Soon  the  boatmen  refused  to 
pull  because  the  boat  could  not  see  where 
to  go.         ^ 

The  ruling  spirit  over  China  is  the  dragon,  fun^ 
It  is  active  in  the  Fung  Schui;  this  means  the*^'^*"'' 

III 


Missionary  Addresses. 

spirit  of  the  earth,  the  sea,  and  the  air.  It  is 
the  embodiment  of  all  superstition.  One  of 
the  great  departments  of  government  is  this 
department  of  Fung  Schui ;  it  has  a  great  Sec- 
retary in  Government  Council,  like  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  or  of  War.  Its  business  is  to  fix 
upon  lucky  days  for  all  the  movements  and 
actions  of  the  emperor,  and  of  all  others  down 
to  the  poorest  coolie;  it  fixes  the  places  for 
graves,  for  houses,  for  windows,  for  chimneys, 
for  everything,  everywhere.  It  has  a  service 
ramified  throughout  the  Empire.  Nothing 
goes  on  without  the  approval  of  these  officers, 
which  is  secured  by  fees.  On  one  of  our 
buildings  that  once  stood  in  the  old  Com- 
pound in  Peking,  I  saw  a  short  chimney,  per- 
haps ten  inches  above  the  roof.  It  was  cut  ofif 
by  the  Fung  Schui.  One  of  the  Fung  Schui 
officers  told  a  man,  whose  door  was  just  oppo- 
site this  chimney  when  it  was  the  size  of  the 
other  chimneys,  that  unless  that  chimney  was 
shortened  he  would  never  have  any  male  chil- 
dren. So  our  people  cut  down  the  chimney 
rather  than  have  it  taken  down  by  a  mob. 
This  ignorance  and  superstition  is  only 
equaled  by  their  conceit.  They  despise  and 
dislike  all  who  arc  not  Chinese.    They  do  not 

112 


Our  Opportunity. 

want  contact  with  the  foreign  devils.  It  was 
a  great  triumph  of  diplomacy  when  an  em- 
bassy was  received  by  China  from  the  United 
States.  President  Polk,  in  the  late  forties, 
sent  John  W.  Davis  as  our  Minister  to  China, 
and  the  President  informs  "his  great  and  good 
friend,"  the  emperor,  that  Mr.  Davis  is  to 
bear  good  wishes  to  him  and  ''be  near  Your 
Majesty."  It  is  instructive  to  know  that  Mr. 
Davis  was  received  at  Canton,  and  kept  there 
with  all  other  diplomats,  about  a  thousand 
miles  from  Peking.  No  profane  person  must 
ever  approach  the  emperor. 

This  dislike  of  all  foreigners  is  equaled  by 
their  utter  lack  of  patriotism,  the  religion  of 
the  State,  and  their  deadness  to  public  inter- 
est. In  the  war  with  Japan,  torpedoes  were 
placed  in  the  Minn  River  for  the  protection 
of  Foochow.  When  the  war  was  over  and 
the  torpedoes  were  removed,  it  was  found  that 
some  one  had  filled  the  torpedoes  with  coal 
dirt  and  ashes,  and  had  kept  the  money  fur- 
nished for  powder.  War  vessels  sent  for  the 
defense  of  Shanghai  were  found  to  be  useless 
because  the  officers  had  sold  off  the  new  can- 
non and  rapid-firing  guns,  and  had  substituted 
wooden  guns. 

8  113 


Missionary  Addresses. 

There  was  pointed  out  to  me  a  man  who 
had  a  contract  to  clean  out  a  certain  long 
sewer  in  Foochow  that  had  long  been  utterly 
filled.  The  officers  went  to  inspect  the  work. 
The  contractor  was  required  to  go  through 
the  sewer,  entering  at  one  end  and  coming  out 
at  the  other.  He  entered  the  sewer,  and 
started  through  it.  The  officers  walked 
through  the  street  over  the  sewer,  and  looked 
for  the  man  to  come  out  at  the  other  end  of 
the  sewer.  In  a  few  moments  the  officers  saw 
him  come  out.  They  were  satisfied,  and  paid 
over  the  money.  They  did  not  observe  that 
it  was  the  contractor's  brother  who  came  out 
of  the  sewer.  The  government  and  officials 
were  beaten,  and  nobody  cared. 

Some  English  officers  practicing  on  a  gun- 
boat on  the  Yang-tse,  accidentally  knocked  a 
hole  in  the  wall  of  one  of  the  cities  along  the 
river.  They  were  alarmed,  and  asked  a  man- 
darin— i.  e.,  an  officer,  who  was  on  the  gun- 
boat with  them — how  they  could  settle  the 
matter.  They  did  not  care  to  be  dismissed  by 
England.  The  mandarin  said,  "That  is  easy. 
Settle  anything  in  China  with  cash."  The 
officers  chipped  in  eight  hundred  taels,  about 
a   thousand   dollars,   and  sent  the  mandarin 

114 


Our  Opportunity. 

ashore  to  settle.  At  night  he  returned  saying, 
"It  is  all  settled,  all  right."  The  officers  were 
pleased.  Some  time  afterward  the  officers 
learned  that  the  mandarin  called  the  princi- 
pal men  of  the  town  together,  and  told  them 
that  unless  they  gave  him  two  thousand  taels 
by  four  o'clock,  he  would  have  their  city  lev- 
eled with  the  ground.  They  raised  the  money, 
and  he  returned  happy.  The  deep  want  of 
such  a  people  can  not  be  measured.  The  very 
foundations  of  the  moral  government  must  be 
laid  in  them. 

The  depravity  and  lostness  of  China  SLrecodisthe 
far  beyond  any  civilized  human  conception.  ^"^-^ 
Unaided  by  the  Lord,  no  human  faith  and 
ability  could  handle  such  a  problem.  But 
God's  ways  are  not  like  our  ways.  He  does 
not  look  for  our  righteousness;  He  knows  that 
that  is  filthy  rags.  He  does  not  feel  for  our 
strength;  He  knows  that  that  is  perfect  weak- 
ness. God  simply  asks,  Do  we  need  Him? 
Our  utter  helplessness  is  the  prevailing  cry 
that  pierces  His  ear.  When  we  owe  ten  thou- 
sand talents  and  have  nothing  to  pay,  then  He 
is  drawn  by  the  magnetism  of  our  lostness, 
and  freely  forgives  us  all.  When  we  are 
naked  and  famine-stricken,  and  look  toward 

IIS 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Him,  then  He  meets  us  afar  off,  puts  upon  us 
the  robe  and  the  ring,  and  hugs  us  into  patri- 
mony and  sonship.  The  most  startling  cry 
that  ever  rang  through  the  universe  since  the 
agonizing  wail  on  Mount  Calvary  is  the  con- 
centrated cry  going  up  out  of  the  unmeasured 
need  of  China.  It  has  the  lungs  of  an  al- 
mighty want.  It  pierces  the  ear  of  God,  and 
it  penetrates  the  deepest  recesses  of  His  ach- 
ing heart.  It  drives  the  tides  of  His  redeem- 
ing mercy  over  the  shoreless  ocean  of  His  in- 
finite love.  It  is  this  bottomless  wretchedness 
of  China  that  extorts  the  agonizing  command 
from  the  purple  lips  of  God,  "Go  ye  into  all 
the  world." 
China's  China  combines  all  difficulties.  Chris- 
.^^^f  tianity  enters  a  country,  challenging  every 
,Vj.  superstition  and  defying  all  the  false  gods. 
She  has  no  compromise.  She  can  not  sit 
down  in  any  Pantheon.  Everything  must 
yield  to  her.  When  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant 
enters  a  temple  all  the  idols  must  fall  on  their 
faces  and  go  into  fragments.  She  can  not  ac- 
commodate herself  to  ancestral  worship. 
While  she  says,  "Honor  thy  father  and  thy 
mother,"  she  can  not  for  one  moment  tolerate 
the  worship  of  father  and  mother.     She  can 

Ii6 


Our  Opportunity. 

not  help  support  the  feasts  and  theatrical  per- 
formance for  the  honor  or  support  of  idolatry. 
She  can  hardly  take  a  step  in  any  direction 
that  she  does  not  antagonize  some  superstition. 
It  is  not  strange  that  her  representatives 
should  soon  be  marked  as  enemies  to  the  con- 
victions  of  the  common  people.  It  is  only 
natural  that  persecution  should  mark  the  his- 
tory of  every  advance  of  Christianity.  It  is 
to  the  glory  of  our  mission  work  in  China 
that  China  is  no  exception  to  this  law. 

This  hostility  has  been  greatly  increased  by 
the  assumptions  and  political  ambitions  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  officials.  Their  bishops  have 
assumed  the  rank  of  princes.  They  are  car- 
ried by  four  bearers  dressed  like  the  bearers 
of  high  State  officials.  They  demand  the 
same  public  consideration.  They  have  estab- 
lished in  every  principal  mission  center  a 
court  for  hearing  and  determining  all  cases 
where  their  members  are  concerned.  The 
perversity  and  crookedness  of  Chinese  justice 
Is  so  marked  and  general  that  this  extra-terri- 
torial jurisdiction  seems  necessary.  The 
Church  naturally  secures  the  services  of  men 
best  versed  In  Chinese  law  to  manage  these 
cases.    As  wild  ducks  will  soon  learn  the  line 

117 


Missionary  Addresses. 

near  towns  where  shooting  is  prohibited,  and 
seek  shelter  within  these  lines,  so  the  natives, 
especially  needing  immunity  from  the  execu- 
tion of  justice,  soon  drift  into  these  refuges, 
and  conform  to  the  required  ceremonies  for 
the  needed  immunity.  Thus  this  imperium 
in  imperio  soon  becomes  a  center  of  irritation. 
Officers  prevented  from  punishing  criminals 
come  to  regard  these  asylums  for  criminals  as 
dangerous  bandits,  menaces  to  the  good  order 
of  the  State.  Thus  it  happens  that,  in  the  set- 
tlement of  the  most  alarming  extremities  to 
which  the  Boxer  riots  brought  the  Chinese 
Government,  one  of  the  six  items  insisted  upon 
by  the  Chinese  in  the  settlement  was,  that  the 
Christian  Churches  should  not  admit  to,  and 
retain  in  their  folds,  notoriously  bad  char- 
acters. Slow  to  distinguish  between  foreign- 
ers, as  we  may  be  slow  to  distinguish  between 
the  Chinese  of  different  provinces,  or  between 
different  individual  Chinese  men,  the  people 
looked  upon  all  foreigners  as  under  the  same 
condemnation.  The  causes  of  irritation  being 
always  present,  a  possible  outburst  was  always 
a  standing  menace. 

In  the  face  of  all  this  prolonged  irritation 
came  a  pressure  from  the  Great  Powers  that 

ii8 


Our  Opportunity. 

was  too  heavy  not  to  produce  wide  results. 
The  greed  and  aggressiveness  of  the  Powers 
was  urged  by  most  imperative  motives,  the 
struggles  for  supremacy  and  almost  for  exist- 
ence. When  your  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania 
men  laid  pig-iron  and  steel  rails  down  in 
Liverpool  and  Berlin  and  Paris  at  a  profit, 
you  opened  the  eyes  of  the  Powers.  They 
must  have  cheap  coal  or  go  to  the  rear  and 
yield  commercial  supremacy  to  the  United 
States.  Hence  the  almost  simultaneous  rush 
for  the  control  of  the  great  coal-fields  of 
China.  Your  furnaces  made  it  hot  for  China 
more  than  did  our  missionaries.  The  Boxer 
troubles  were  only  the  foam  on  the  surface  of 
a  great  undercurrent  of  mightiest  forces. 
Russia  became  possessed  of  Port  Arthur,  with 
a  sphere  of  influence  embracing  Manchuria 
and  reaching  well  down  toward  Peking,  as 
an  objective  point  from  which  the  practical 
supremacy  of  Russia  over  China  was  to  be 
secured.  Germany  was  reaching  out  over 
Shantung.  France  was  closing  her  hands  over 
the  three  provinces  of  Kwangsi,  Yunnan,  and 
Kweichow,  with  a  greed  that  stretched  far 
across  the  Continent  to  Szechuen.  England 
from  Shanghai,  where  she  widened  her  hold- 

119 


Missionary  Addresses. 

ings,  extended  her  sphere  of  influence  up  the 
Yang-tse  Valley.  Japan,  from  her  footing  on 
the  Island  of  Formosa,  counted  upon  the  con- 
trol of  the  Fukien  Province,  which  fronted 
Formosa.  Even  Italy,  with  only  a  germ  of 
possible  commerce,  wanted  Sanmoon  Port  and 
the  Che-kiang  Province.  Only  one  real  and 
suitable  port  was  to  be  left  to  China  herself. 
Twenty  great  railroads,  backed  by  rich  con- 
cessions and  padded  with  Chinese  capital, 
were  projected  throughout  the  Chinese  Em- 
pire; from  the  borders  of  Siberia  to  the  bor- 
ders of  Tibet,  and  down  to  the  tropical  forests 
of  Burmah.  Fifteen  of  the  eighteen  provin- 
cial capitals  were  thus  made  tributary  to  the 
foreigners.  The  public  and  world-wide  dis- 
cussion of  "The  Partition  of  China,"  "The 
IBreaking  Up  of  the  Chinese  Empire,"  and 
such  themes,  quite  extensively  translated  for 
Chinese  officials  and  filtered  into  the  Chinese 
convictions,  made  a  nightmare  too  heavy  and 
alarming  for  the  continued  slumber  of  the 
heathen  giant.  He  groaned  and  rolled  on  his 
hard  bed,  and  started  to  his  feet  in  alarm.  He 
looked  about  him  for  some  way  of  escape  or 
defense,  for  something  tangible  to  strike. 
A  vast  literary  anti-Christian  propaganda 

120 


Our  Opportunity. 

was  put  in  motion,  consisting  of  books, 
pamphlets,  placards,  and  illustrated  sheets 
called  "The  Picture  Gallery,"  repeating  and 
multiplying  the  popular  calumnies  against  the 
Christians,  parodying  the  doctrines,  giving 
deformed  fragments  of  Brahmanism,  Bud- 
dhism, Mohammedanism,  and  the  teachings 
of  the  secret  sects  of  China,  with  a  profuseness 
of  vileness  in  illustration  only  possible  to  an 
imagination  steeped  in  the  pollution  of  sixty 
centuries  of  heathen  licentiousness.  These 
were  multiplied  by  the  million,  and  given  to 
all  who  would  take  them.  Printing  and  cir- 
culating them  was  a  work  of  merit.  With 
these  were  sent  lists  and  statements  of  the  mas- 
sacres of  Christians,  and  wild  appeals  to  the 
people  to  kill  the  foreign  pig-goat  devils,  and 
wipe  out  the  devil's  religion.  The  magazine 
was  widely  and  deeply  laid  under  the  Em- 
pire. It  only  awaited  a  spark.  That  spark 
came  from  headquarters. 

In  1898,  three  years  after  the  Japanese  war, 
the  emperor  entered  upon  a  career  of  reform, 
never  surpassed  in  any  country  or  government, 
and  hardly  equaled  by  the  revolutions 
wrought  by  Peter  the  Great  in  Russia,  or  by 
the  Emperor  of  Japan  in  1867.    The  disasters 

121 


Missionary  Addresses. 

inflicted  by  little  Japan  compelled  many  ad- 
vanced men  in  China  to  reflect;  among  them 
the  emperor  was  awakened  to  the  situation. 
As  the  Czar  said  after  the  Crimean  War, 
"Russia  does  not  sulk,  she  meditates;"  so  the 
Emperor  of  China  did  not  sulk,  but  he  medi- 
tated. He  was  profoundly  impressed  with 
the  antiquated  and  factitious  condition  of  the 
Empire.  He  began  a  most  astonishing  series 
of  Imperial  Edicts  to  clear  away  the  efifete 
customs  and  useless  appliances  of  the  govern- 
ment. He  forbade  all  extortion  in  raising 
money,  and  asked  for  a  loan  to  which  no  one 
should  subscribe  unless  he  wanted  so  to  invest 
his  money.  He  asked  the  viceroy  to  recom- 
mend men  the  best  qualified  for  foreign  min- 
isters, regardless  of  rank.  He  started  to  re- 
organize the  army  after  the  best  Western 
models,  and  arm  them  with  modern  arms. 
He  said:  "Our  scholars  are  now  without  solid 
practical  education;  our  artisans  are  without 
scientific  instructors.  Does  any  one  think,  in 
our  present  condition,  that  he  can  really  say, 
with  any  truth,  that  our  men  are  as  well- 
drilled  and  as  well-led  as  those  of  any  of  the 
foreign  armies,  or  that  we  can  successfully 
stand  against  any  of  them?"     He  abolished 

122 


Our  Opportunity. 

the  literary  essay  as  the  standard  for  literary 
examinations.  He  ordered  the  establishment 
of  a  National  University,  with  colleges  in  the 
provinces  as  feeders.  He  ordered  that  West- 
ern science  should  be  counted  in  examination 
for  literary  degrees,  and  foreign  teachers  were 
to  be  employed  to  teach  the  sciences.  The 
temples,  except  those  built  as  memorials, 
should  be  kept  for  schools  for  the  new  learn- 
ing. All  this,  and  the  complete  revolution 
of  the  Empire  from  the  old,  obsolete  customs 
to  the  new  practical  training,  suited  to  modern 
times,  and  more,  was  promulgated.  The  na- 
tion was  surprised  and  almost  breathless.  But 
there  was  a  large  minority  of  the  scholars  that 
were  ready  to  welcome  the  new  life.  In  al- 
most every  provincial  capital  and  open  port 
book  depots  were  established  for  the  supply 
of  standard  literature;  books,  educational,  sci- 
entific and  religious,  magazines  and  news- 
papers, were  published  and  circulated,  lec- 
tures were  delivered,  and  libraries  started. 
Prejudices  were  broken  down,  and  hatred  was 
overcome.  The  movement  was  leavening  the 
thought  and  molding  the  minds  of  the  upper 
classes.  Even  in  the  remote  capital  of  Hsi 
An  Fu  books  were  purchased  by  all  classes, 

123 


Missionary  Addresses. 

from  the  governor  to  the  humblest  scholar. 
The  literati  embraced  the  new  learning.  The 
aristocracy  formed  classes,  and  invited  for- 
eigners to  give  them  '^the  light  of  their  learn- 
ing." Foreigners  were  invited  to  visit  the 
Confucian  colleges,  and  publicly  explain  the 
secret  of  the  success  and  the  source  of  the  en- 
ergy of  the  Christian  nations.  The  emperor 
said  he  was  seeking  to  bring  China  upon  a 
level  with  the  great  Western  nations,  and 
asked  his  people  to  sympathize  with  the  move- 
ment and  hear  the  foreign  teachers.  Every- 
thing was  moving  forward  toward  the  regen- 
eration of  China.  Deliverance  from  the  old 
order  and  from  the  old  superstitions  was  at 
the  door.  The  long  campaign  of  the  mission- 
aries seemed  about  to  reach  glorious  victory. 
Suddenly  we  confront  the  fiercest  opposition 
and  most  bloody  persecution  of  modern  times. 
The  struggle  for  the  regeneration  of  China 
was  a  part  of  the  Irrepressible  Conflict.  The 
great  enemy  is  not  dead.  He  never  willingly 
abandons  one  inch  of  his  territory.  He  must 
be  driven  back  at  the  hardest,  either  in  the  in- 
dividual heart,  or  in  the  field  of  the  world. 
Every  advance  of  the  forces  of  righteousness 
awakens  Satan's  activity.    The  conquest  of  the 

124 


Our  Opportunity. 

world  is  the  subjugati'on  of  a  rebellious  prov- 
ince in  the  moral  government.  Whenever  we 
see  the  Church  putting  on  her  strength  and 
beauty  we  must  expect  to  encounter  the  forces 
of  evil  at  their  worst. 

The   Scriptures   declare   this  strife   against Z)^w;o«j- 
the    Powers    of    Darkness.      The    Powers    of '^^''!^*'*" 

.     .  .  ,   .    sessions. 

Darkness  have  long  had  dommion  m  this 
world.  It  was  not  all  a  pretense  of  the  devil 
when  he  offered  all  the  glory  and  power  of 
the  kingdoms  of  this  world  to  the  Savior  if 
He  would  bow  down  and  worship  him.  The 
conflict  of  the  ages  has  been  to  overthrow  him. 
Whenever  there  has  been  any  special  move- 
ment among  the  forces  of  righteousness,  there 
has  been  special  demonstration  among  the  evil 
forces. 

At  the  time  of  Moses,  when  Israel  was  to 
be  delivered  from  bondage  and  the  law  was 
to  be  revealed  to  them,  the  priests  of  the 
Egyptians  wrought  wonders  in  opposition  to 
the  miracles  of  Moses  and  Aaron.  Their  rods 
were  changed  into  serpents  like  to  the  rod  of 
Aaron,  and  they  were  confounded  only  when 
Aaron's  serpent  swallowed  their  serpents. 
The  priests  of  Baal  were  willing  to  test  au- 
thority  with    Elijah,    and    surrendered    only 

125 


Missionary  Addresses. 

when  fire  came  down  from  heaven  m  answer 
to  Elijah's  prayer.  Whenever  there  has  been 
a  special  advance  in  revelation,  then  the  devil 
has  been  ready  with  a  counter  movement. 

In  New  Testament  times  demoniacal  pos- 
sessions were  common.  Everjrvvhere  Jesus 
went  He  encountered  these  enemies.  They 
recognized  His  character  and  mission.  They 
would  cry  out,  "I  know  Thee;  Thou  art  the 
Son  of  the  living  God." 

At  the  marked  turns  in  the  life  of  Jesus  He 
had  special  conflicts  with  the  devil.  When 
He  reached  the  turn  in  His  earthly  career, 
when  He  went  into  His  divine  mission  and 
was  entering  upon  His  ministry,  then  He  was 
led  away  into  the  wilderness  by  the  Spirit,  to 
be  tempted  of  the  devil. 

When  His  work  was  well  advanced,  so  He 
could  send  out  The  Seventy  to  preach  His 
presence  and  power,  the  disciples  returned 
saying,  "Even  the  devils  are  subject  to  us  in 
Thy  name."  That  was  a  great  forward  move- 
ment,— the  powers  of  the  spiritual  kingdoms 
could  be  handled  by  men.  The  Kingdom  of 
Darkness  could  now  be  overthrown.  Men, 
mortal  men,  had  become  so  matured  in  spirit- 

126 


Our  Opportunity. 

ual  warfare  that  even  the  devils  must  yield 
to  them,  must  make  way  for  them.  Jesus 
counted  that  a  great  victory.  He  said,  "I  be- 
held Satan  falling  like  lightning  from 
heaven."  Once  when  Jesus  prayed,  "Father, 
glorify  Thy  name,"  then  there  came  a  voice 
from  heaven  saying:  "I  have  both  glorified  it, 
and  will  glorify  it  again.  .  .  .  Now  is 
the  judgment  of  this  world,  now  shall  the 
prince  of  this  world  be  cast  out."  (John  xii, 
28-31.) 

It  is  the  old  law,  whenever  and  wherever 
a  great  spiritual  work  is  being  wrought,  there 
the  devil  marshals  his  forces.  We  have  many 
of  us  witnessed  the  same  thing.  When  a  thor- 
ough work  of  grace  breaks  out  in  a  commu- 
nity, there  the  devil  stirs  up  his  emissaries. 
Something  is  started  to  divert  the  public  mind 
and  take  the  attention  and  time  of  people  who 
might  otherwise  be  reached  by  remedial  agen- 
cies. When  John  Wesley's  young  preachers 
reported  their  efforts,  he  would  ask,  "Any- 
body converted?"  "No."  "Anybody  seek- 
ing?" "No."  "Anybody  mad?"  "No." 
"Then  you  need  not  go  again."  When  the 
Church  moves  in  earnest,  then  Satan  bestirs 

127 


Missionary  Addresses. 

himself.  When  you  see  the  devil  putting 
forth  great  and  unusual  effort,  then  know  that 
God's  forces  are  in  motion. 

When  Christianity  is  introduced  into  a 
heathen  country  with  power,  then  the  devil 
comes  to  the  public  attention  and  m.en  seem 
to  act  as  if  possessed  of  the  devil,  act  as  they 
did  in  New  Testament  times. 

When  the  Baptists  went  into  Burmah,  and 
that  remarkable  work  of  grace  was  started, 
their  missionaries  encountered  the  same  oppo- 
sition; they  acted  as  they  did  of  old  when 
possessed  of  the  devil.  In  the  Foochow  Con- 
ference, when  I  held  it  sixteen  years  ago, 
there  were  demonstrations  of  evil  possession 
similar  to  those  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. It  had  been  the  greatest  year  the  mis- 
sion had  ever  had.  I  spent  two  days  with  in- 
terpreters, examining  the  native  preachers 
concerning  these  strange  phenomena.  They 
corresponded  almost  exactly  with  statements 
of  the  New  Testament.  When  a  case  developed 
to  disturb  a  society  or  its  members,  the  pastor 
would  call  the  presiding  elder  and  the  official 
men  together  to  pray  over  the  victim.  They 
would  pray  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  order 

128 


Our  Opportunity. 

the  evil  spirit  to  depart,  and  the  spirit  would 
depart,  and  the  victim  would  be  quiet,  clothed 
and  in  his  right  mind.  I  will  give  one  of 
many  cases.  A  woman,  whose  husband  was 
an  earnest  Christian,  came  with  him  into  the 
church  as  a  seeker.  Her  mother  died.  She 
wanted  a  heathen  funeral.  The  husband 
wanted  a  Christian  funeral.  She  became  vio- 
lent, smashed  up  the  furniture,  and  could  not 
be  restrained.  The  man  sent  for  a  cousin  of 
the  woman.  This  cousin  was  a  professional 
wrestler,  a  man  of  enormous  size  and  strength. 
She  said  to  her  husband:  "I  know  what  you 
have  done;  you  have  sent  for  my  cousin;  he 
is  coming,  I  see  him  over  the  mountain.  He 
will  be  here  in  about  an  hour.  You  see  what 
I  will  do  to  him."  She  was  a  small  woman, 
not  weighing  ninety  pounds;  the  wrestler  was 
a  giant  and  trained  in  rough-and-tumble 
wrestling.  When  he  came  in,  she  seized  him 
and  doubled  him  up,  and  threw  him  out  of 
the  house  and  over  the  wall.  The  pastor  and 
official  members  came  together  and  prayed 
over  her,  and  ordered  the  evil  spirit  out  of 
her,  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  she  was  quiet 
from  that  hour.  It  is  the  irrepressible  con- 
9  129 


Missionary  Addresses. 

flict  running  through  all  the  ages.  The  Boxer 
troubles  are  only  another  manifestation  of  the 
same  old  hostility. 

Groups  of  girls  from  twelve  to  twenty,  the 
time  when,  according  to  Chinese  customs  and 
all  common  sense,  girls  need  especial  seclu- 
sion and  care,  dressed  in  red  throughout, 
going  to  the  temples  to  exercise  in  the  Boxers' 
drill,  with  low  men  of  the  ruder  sort,  singing 
their  incantations  till  they  are  wild,  crying 
"Kill!  kill!"  and  clutching  swords  and  any 
weapons,  and  trying  to  kill  anybody  within 
reach, — these  groups  running  from  village  to 
village,  among  an  ignorant  or  superstitious 
people,  are  firebrands  well  calculated  to 
spread  the  excitement.  It  is  not  strange  that 
they  proved  good  instruments  for  Satan's  use. 
When  the  Boxers  under  their  excitement  had 
passed  through  the  trance  state,  they  believed 
themselves  invulnerable  to  sword,  or  spear,  or 
bullet.  This  superstitious  acceptance  of  the 
supposed  supernatural  spirit  operated  power- 
fully upon  all  classes.  Even  the  Empress 
Dowager,  in  the  great  Council  of  her  Princes, 
maintained  that  these  trained  Boxers  were  in- 
vulnerable to  bullet,  or  sword,  or  spear. 
Prince   Yuan    said:    "Yesterday    I    saw    the 

130 


Our  Opportunity, 

ground  before  the  Legation  defenses  thickly 
strewn  with  dead  bodies  of  their  leaders.  It 
is  impossible  that  they  are  invulnerable."  She 
interrupted  him,  saying,  "The  bodies  you  saw 
must  have  been  not  Boxers,  but  outlaws." 
This  infection,  with  such  indorsement,  spread 
rapidly.  Crime  became  the  instinct.  The 
people,  especially  the  lower  classes,  had  a  de- 
lirium of  cruelty  and  slaughter.  It  might  be 
called  a  general  demoniacal  possession.  Satan 
reigned  supreme.  The  objective  point  of  his 
campaign  was  the  death  of  all  Christians  and 
the  utter  wiping  out  of  all  Christianity. 

The  Reform  Edicts  made  by  the  Emperor 
made  him  the  center  of  a  work  of  righteous- 
ness. He  was  calling  about  him  advance  men. 
The  old  conservative  men  were  being  retired 
and  dismissed.  This  compacted  them  about 
the  Empress  Dowager.  The  emperor  knew 
the  opposition  he  had  to  overcome.  He  was 
aware  of  the  machinations  of  the  Empress 
Dowager.  He  relied  upon  one  of  his  generals 
(Yuan  Shik  Kai),  at  the  head  of  twelve  thou- 
sand five  hundred  soldiers,  who  had  been 
drilled  by  a  German  master,  and  were  the 
most  reliable  of  all  the  soldiers,  to  keep  the 
Empress   Dowager  in  her  palace.     But  his 

131 


Missionary  Addresses. 

general  betrayed  him.  The  Empress  Dow- 
ager assembled  her  powerful  relatives,  and 
demanded  the  abdication  of  the  emperor. 

The  aggressions  of  the  powers  trying  to 
partition  China  inspired  the  conservatives, 
and  gave  them  powerful  arguments,  and 
alarmed  the  progressive  friends  of  the  em- 
peror. In  the  critical  hour  he  was  deserted. 
The  conservatives  came  to  the  front.  The 
Empress  Dowager  seized  the  emperor's  sig- 
net ring,  the  emperor  was  imprisoned;  the 
advance  men  were  chased  out  of  China  or 
killed;  the  edicts  for  reform  were  neutralized, 
the  enemies  of  the  foreigners  were  placed  in 
power;  the  Boxers  were  encouraged  by  the 
Empress  Dowager;  the  missionaries  were 
killed  or  driven  to  places  of  refuge,  their 
native  converts  were  butchered,  and  the  clock 
of  Chinese  progress  was  stopped  for  a  season. 
But  only  for  a  season.  As  one  of  the  advisers 
of  the  emperor,  with  five  noble,  able,  and  pa- 
triotic young  companions,  was  seized  and  exe- 
cuted, he  said,  "We  can  easily  be  slain,  but 
multitudes  of  others  will  arise  to  take  our 
places."  The  day  of  their  execution,  Septem- 
ber 28,   1898,  will  yet  be  celebrated  by  the 

132 


Our  Opportunity. 

patriots  of  redeemed  China  as  the  "Day  of 
the  Six  Martyrs." 

The  disturbances  and  Boxer  persecutions 
furnish  some  most  encouraging  signs.  As  the 
demons,  when  ordered  out  of  their  victims  by 
the  Savior,  would  sometimes  tear  and  wound 
their  victims  before  coming  out,  so  this  de- 
lirium of  rage  indicates  the  pressure  of  great 
spiritual  power,  that  precipitates  and  inten- 
sifies the  conflict.  Satan,  seeing  that  his  reign 
is  short,  rages.  We  can  see  that  the  forces  of 
righteousness  are  neither  dead  nor  sleeping. 
Already  signs  of  hope  are  seen  in  the  earth, 
and  streams  of  light  are  illumining  the  East- 
ern sky.  The  strong  hand  of  the  Christian 
nations  has  been  felt.  As  the  emperor  in  a 
critical  and  decisive  council^  of  the  Chinese 
princes,  protesting  against  the  policy  of  the 
Empress  Dowager  and  the  Conservatives, 
cried  out,  "If  China  is  to  fight  the  world,  will 
it  not  put  an  end  to  China?"  The  greatness 
of  the  Powers  has  been  felt.  The  conviction 
of  the  emperor  has  taken  possession  of  the 
people;  their  feelings  are  greatly  changed. 

The  experiences  that  followed  the  Sepoy 
mutiny  may  have  been  repeated.     There,  be- 


Missionary  Addresses. 

fore  the  war,  the  lowest  servants  could  insult 
a  foreigner;  but  after  the  victories  of  General 
Havelock  it  was  impossible  to  mass  enough 
natives  to  resist  a  single  squad  of  British  sol- 
diers. Dr.  Butler  was  in  the  Great  Bazaar 
in  Calcutta;  it  was  crowded  with  throngs  of 
natives.  Two  British  soldiers  entered  the  Ba- 
zaar, when  the  natives  fled  in  utmost  terror. 
In  a  moment  they  had  all  vanished.  Half  a 
century  has  failed  to  resuscitate  the  old,  inso- 
lent spirit.  So  it  is  now  in  China.  Before 
the  capture  of  Peking,  the  flight  of  the  Im- 
perial family  and  court,  and  the  punishment 
of  the  Boxer  leaders,  children  or  coolies  were 
bold  to  insult  foreign  pig-goat  devils ;  but  now 
a  great  change  has  come  over  them,  a  great 
light  has  shone  in  upon  those  who  sat  in  dark- 
ness. Before  the  fall  of  the  Boxers  the  word 
"foreign"  was  so  odious  that  it  had  to  be  taken 
off  from  every  article  of  commerce  or  trade 
that  could  not  be  dispensed  with.  Foreign 
drilling  had  to  be  called  "fine  cloth,"  foreign 
Sacrifice,  riflcs  "knobbcd  guns,"  foreign  matches  "quick 
fire;"  foreign  things  that  were  indispensable 
had  to  be  rechristened.  After  the  capture  the 
Chinese  were  eagerly  and  ostentatiously  seek- 
ing and  wearing  foreign  clothes;  all  classes 

134 


Our  Opportunity. 

learned  the  military  salute;  the  small  children 
performed  it  before  every  one  passing  by. 

There  is  a  still  deeper  and  more  abiding  in- 
fluence working  among  the  people  of  all 
classes.  The  age-long  argument  of  sacrifice, 
that  has  never  been  unhitched  from  its  legit- 
imate conclusion,  results  in  lifting  China  to 
higher  levels.  It  is  still  true,  as  in  the  days 
of  Roman  emperors,  that  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church.  The  lives 
and  deaths  of  the  native  Christians  were  ex- 
hibited before  men  and  angels.  The  native 
Christians  were  not  considered  by  the  foreign 
soldiers  in  Peking  as  any  part  of  their  charge. 
No  provision  was  made  for  their  protection 
or  safety.  True  they  were  butchered  at  sight 
everywhere,  but  the  foreign  officials  did  not 
assume  or  feel  any  responsibility  for  them. 
The  missionaries  threw  over  them  their  shield, 
and  made  room  for  them  in  the  sacred  inclos- 
ures  of  the  Legation  grounds.  It  was  soon 
found  that  they  were  not  like  other  Chinese. 
While  heathen  servants  fled  on  the  approach 
of  danger,  these  men  and  women  staid  by 
their  friends.  They  took  their  turn  by  the 
loopholes  with  the  guns.  They  stood  guard 
in  dangerous  places.    They  toiled  in  all  kinds 


Missionary  Addresses. 

of  hard  service  without  a  murmur.  They 
made  the  continuance  of  the  defense  possible ; 
even  the  Japanese  heartily  commended  them, 
and  the  common  soldiers  felt  that  some  great 
change  had  been  wrought  in  them.  It  became 
a  general  conviction  that,  unless  these  had 
staid  within  the  Legation  defenses,  none  had 
been  saved. 

The  fidelity  of  the  native  Christians  is  a 
world-wide  wonder.  Some  servants  sent  away 
to  places  of  safety,  returned  on  the  eve  of  a 
riot,  saying  simply,  "I  heard  that  you  were  to 
be  attacked  to-night,  and  I  thought  I  ought  to 
be  here  to  help  you."  When  missionaries  had 
been  robbed  and  were  destitute,  in  the  midst 
of  murderous  enemies,  the  native  Christians 
would  hunt  them  up  and  give  them  what 
money  they  had,  one  saying,  "As  long  as  I 
have  anything,  of  course  I  will  share  it  with 
you."  A  native  Baptist  Christian  in  Shansi 
was  taken  to  see  the  missionaries  die.  As  they 
approached  their  hiding-place,  though  certain 
it  would  cost  him  his  life,  he  cried  out,  giving 
warning  to  his  pastor,  and  was  instantly  struck 
down.  The  manner  in  which  the  native 
Christians  endured  torture  and  met  death  was 
a    perpetual    surprise    to    their    persecutors. 

136 


Our  Opportunity, 

Converts  gave  the  greatest  testimony;  teacher 
Lieu,  of  Fenchou  Fu,  sat  quietly  fanning  him- 
self as  he  was  expecting  the  murderers,  and  he 
met  them  and  death  with  a  smile. 

When  the  Boxers  visited  a  village  they  or- 
dered the  people  to  point  out  the  Christians, 
and  this  was  promptly  done  to  save  them- 
selves. The  Christians  were  set  off  by  them- 
selves by  heathen  neighbors  who  were  either 
afraid  to  befriend  them  or  willing  to  share  in 
the  loot.  Then  the  Christians  would  gather 
at  their  little  chapels.  The  Boxers  would  sur- 
round them  and  press  in  upon  them,  and  the 
murderers  would  offer  them  life  if  they  would 
deny  Jesus  or  bow  to  the  idols.  There  they 
are,  Christians,  men,  women  and  children,  all 
crowded  together.  Look  at  them.  There  they 
stand;  the  little  girls  are  clinging  to  their 
mother;  the  Boxers  bind  the  father  and  say, 
"Deny  Jesus  or  we  will  kill  you."  The  father 
shakes  his  head;  the  mother  cries,  "Spare  my 
children."  A  rough,  bloody  man,  with  a 
knife  in  his  hand,  seizes  a  little  girl  twelve 
years  old,  and  tears  her  away  from  her  mother. 
She  springs  for  her  darling.  The  man  asks, 
"Will  you  deny?  Will  you  deny?"  She 
cries,  "O  Lord  Jesus,  help;  I  can  not  deny." 

137 


Missionary  Addresses. 

The  brute  tramples  the  little  thing  under  his 
feet,  rips  open  her  body,  tears  out  the  still 
beating  heart,  crowds  it  into  the  mother's 
mouth,  saying,  "If  you  will  not  deny  your 
Jesus,  take  that!"  The  fiends  cut  and  slash 
the  crying  children  while  the  parents  say, 
"Lord,  help  and  save."  The  mother  is 
knocked  down  and  dragged  around  by  the 
fiends  before  the  helpless  husband  and  father, 
who  prays,  "Lord  Jesus,  receive  us  while  we 
witness  for  Thee,  Thy  humble  servants."  They 
bind  him  to  a  post  and  hack  away  his  flesh 
little  by  little.  He  stands  before  his  tortured 
and  murdered  family  and  dies  saying,  "Lord 
Jesus,  have  mercy  on  them,  and  help  them  to 
see  Thee  and  Thy  truth."  A  single  word 
would  have  saved  his  children  and  his  wife 
and  his  own  life,  but  he  would  not  utter  that 
word.  It  was  not  strange  that  these  perse- 
cutors should,  as  was  often  done  to  others,  cut 
out  this  man's  heart  and  examine  it  to  find  the 
secret  of  his  heroism  and  devotion. 

Jesus  Christ  is  preached  in  tJiat  village,  and 
will  be  forever;  He  is  there  in  person;  it  is 
not  possible  for  Him  to  be  absent  when  His 
heroic  children  are  bearing  such  testimony 
and   are   ascending   to   the   martyr's    throne. 

138 


Our  Opportunity. 

Hear  Him  say,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  ahvay, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  I  can  see 
Him  crowding  past  the  murderers,  soothing 
into  numbness  the  nerves  of  the  little  girl  and 
her  mates,  giving  infinite  comfort  to  the 
mother  as  she  sees  Him  soothing  her  darlings; 
and  I  see  Him  steadying  the  courage  of  the 
father  as  he  opens  before  him  and  his  family 
heaven  and  eternal  blessedness,  and  whispers 
to  him,  "It  is  granted  unto  you  and  yours  to 
enter  into  My  sufferings,  and  to  make  up 
something  of  My  sufferings  that  are  behind 
in  the  world's  redemption." 

This  sacrifice  was  repeated  in  China  two 
thousand  times  during  those  weeks,  while  our 
missionaries  were  manning  the  barricades 
yonder  in  Peking.  I  have  thought  Jesus  was 
absent  from  Court  those  busy  weeks,  and  His 
tall  and  swift  angels  were  busy  those  weeks, 
bearing  home  those  blood-washed  saints. 
Those  were  gala-days  in  the  Home  City.  I 
hear  the  sentinel  angels  shout,  "Here  they 
come  with  another  group ;"  and  the  patriarchs, 
and  the  prophets,  and  the  apostles,  and  the 
martyrs  sweep  out,  as  the  great  gates  of  the 
city  swing  wide  open  to  bid  them  welcome. 
I  hear  Saint  John  say:  "Come,  you  little  chil- 

139 


Missionary  Addresses. 

dren;  you  did  not  know  much  of  the  great 
studies  of  the  Church  on  Earth,  but  you  did 
know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth 
to  forgive  sins,  and  you  have  come  up  out  of 
great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  your  robes 
and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  yonder 
Lamb.  Join  the  great  company  which  no 
man  can  number,  and  enter  into  the  joy  of 
your  Lord." 

The  great  argument  from  these  martyrdoms 
has  permeated  the  Chinese  mind  to  its  dark- 
est recesses.  The  Spirit  of  God  has  burned 
these  great  sermons  into  the  convictions  of  all 
classes.  A  judgment  throne  has  been  set  up 
in  each  man's  conscience.  The  old  systems 
are  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  want- 
ing. The  sentence  of  the  Supreme  Judge  has 
doomed  the  idolatries  to  death.  The  conserv- 
ative leaders  have  been  superseded.  The 
large  minorities  of  progressive  scholars  and 
statesmen  are  asserting  themselves.  The  Em- 
press Dowager,  avenged  on  her  personal  ene- 
mies, relieved  of  the  Boxer  leaders,  impressed 
with  the  nearness  and  greatness  of  the  Chris- 
tian nations,  surrounded  by  better  advisers,  is 
entering  upon  the  work  of  reform.  She  is 
taking  up  the  role  of  the  dethroned  emperor. 

140 


Our  Opportunity. 

By  edict  she  has  again  promulgated  many  of 
the  great  reforms  in  education.  Universities 
and  colleges  will  be  created.  Christian  men 
will  be  sought  as  teachers.  Clubs  of  scholars 
will  be  organized  to  cultivate  and  spread 
Western  knowledge.  Multitudes  are  inquir- 
ing into  the  new  religion.  It  is  estimated  that 
many,  many  thousands  of  Chinese  are  now 
earnestly  inquiring  concerning  Christianity. 
All  classes  are  feeling  the  great  argument 
that  has  been  made  in  their  presence.  The 
spiritual  lethargy  of  centuries  is  being  dis- 
turbed. 

These  fierce  upheavals,  that  seem  to  threaten 
the  very  existence  of  society  itself,  are  only 
the  crude  displays  of  spiritual  forces.  It  is 
an  old  law  asserting  itself.  The  very  perse- 
cutions that  have  strengthened  the  Church  in 
all  ages  are  bearing  the  richest  fruit.  China 
is  wide  open.  By  all  the  breadth  of  her  vast 
territory;  by  all  the  length  of  her  unmeasured 
antiquity;  by  all  the  millions  of  her  uncounted 
hosts;  by  all  her  cruel  and  bloody  supersti- 
tions; by  all  the  loathsome  abominations  of 
her  unregenerated  heathenism;  by  all  the  an- 
guish of  God's  Son  in  yonder  Garden,  and  all 
His  agony  on  yonder  Cross;  by  all  the  tides 

141 


Missionary  Addresses. 

that  sweep  across  the  shoreless  sea  of  God's 
infinite  love,  and  by  the  surging  sorrows  in 
His  aching  heart,  He  calls  upon  us,  saying: 
''The  door  is  wide  open,  enter  in  and  possess 
the  land.  Lo,  I  will  go  with  you,  and  encamp 
about  you,  and  nothing  shall  by  any  means 
harm  you;  I  am  with  you  always,  and  will 
bring  you  off  more  than  conquerors.  O,  My 
America!  what  have  I  not  done  for  you!  I 
have  saved  you  from  baptized  heathenism;  I 
have  kept  you  from  the  great  superstitions; 
I  have  lifted  you  to  the  very  heavens  in  the 
widest  freedom;  I  have  enriched  you  with 
more  than  half  the  world's  wealth;  I  have 
exalted  you  to  the  highest  seat  in  the  world's 
great  council;  I  have  poured  upon  you  the 
full  light  of  wnsdom  till  your  daughters  are 
the  brides  of  princes,  and  your  sons  are  the 
counselors  of  kings.  What  more  could  I  do 
for  you?  O,  My  Methodism!  I  turn  to  you 
in  this  day  of  opportunity;  I  have  called  you 
out  of  darkness ;  I  have  intrusted  you  with  My 
most  secret  wish;  I  have  commissioned  you  to 
proclaim  a  knowable  salvation;  I  have  mul- 
tiplied your  numbers  beyond  all  precedent; 
I  have  crowded  your  borders  with  schools 
and  colleges;  I  have  filled  your  homes  with 

142 


Our  Opportunity. 

scholars  and  believers;  I  have  thrust  upon 
you  the  blessings  of  both  earth  and  heaven; 
now  I  turn  to  you,  I  call  upon  you.  Arise,  put 
on  your  strength;  follow  Me  into  these  wide- 
open  fields.  Do  not  let  these  doors  of  oppor- 
tunity shut  in  your  face.  I  will  go  with  you, 
and  bring  you  off  more  than  conquerors. 
Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse,  that 
there  may  be  meat  in  Mine  house,  and  prove 
Me  now  if  I  will  not  open  the  windows  of 
heaven  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing  that  there 
shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it.  I  will 
pour  out  My  Spirit  upon  all  flesh,  and  your 
sons  and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy.  And 
it  shall  come  to  pass  that  whosoever  shall  call 
on  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved." 

O  God,  if  only  Thou  canst  forgive  our 
unbelief,  our  stumbling  at  the  greatness  and 
preciousness  of  Thy  promises,  our  self-indulg- 
ence, taking  our  ease  in  Zion,  our  utter  lack 
of  sacrifice  for  the  cause  for  which  Thou  didst 
sacrifice  Thy  Son, — if  only  Thou  canst  for- 
give us  all  this  and  all  our  sins,  we  will  do 
better,  we  will  gird  on  the  full  armor,  and  fol- 
low Thee  wherever  Thou  wilt  lead. 


H3 


III. 

THE  REFLEX  INFLUENCE  OF  MIS- 
SIONS 

[A  great  central  meeting  of  Protestant  missionary  societies 
had  been  held  from  time  to  time.  In  i8 —  it  was  determined  to 
have  represented  then  the  two  great  divisions  of  Protestantism, 
the  Calvinistic  and  the  Arminian  branches.  Rev.  Dr.  R.  S. 
Storrs  was  chosen  to  represent  the  first,  and  Bishop  Fowler  to 
represent  the  second.  The  meeting  was  held  in  Carnegie  Hall. 
Bishop  Fowler  spoke  there  on  "The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions." 
The  address  still  speaks  for  itself.  ] 

God  is  an  infinite  economist.  Not  a  spar- 
row falls  to  the  ground  without  His  notice. 
Nature  keeps  double-entry  books.  The  very 
hairs  of  our  heads  are  numbered.  There  is 
no  rubbish  closet  in  the  universe.  Her  dark- 
room is  a  laboratory  where  evrything  is  util- 
ized. Every  flash  of  light  or  of  lightning, 
every  puff  of  steam  or  of  wind,  every  ounce 
of  gravity  or  of  the  magnets,  every  inch  of  the 
falling  brook  or  of  the  rising  tide,  every  shoot- 
ing meteor  or  blazing  star,  every  most  distant 
orb  or  wildest  wandering  comet,  every  spasm 
of  force  or  throb  of  power,  measures  its  full 

144 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

size  in  results.  There  is  no  waste.  Here  an 
ounce  of  coal  is  consumed  in  the  furnace;  but 
a  spark  of  lightning  whispers  the  old,  old 
story,  gladdening  a  waiting  heart  behind  the 
world.  Nature  never  takes  a  penny  out  of 
one  pocket,  without  slipping  it  into  another. 
The  universe  is  full  of  pockets,  and  value  can 
never  slip  away,  even  into  the  worn  lining. 
Power,  like  God,  can  never  die.  We  may  let 
it  slip  by  us  unused;  but  it  will  enrich  some 
other  worker,  carrying  his  burden,  widening 
his  domain  in  the  universe.  Here  a  horse  may 
fall  down  in  the  middle  of  his  journey  with 
his  pack  on  his  back;  but  nature  does  not 
charge  him  up  to  profit  and  loss.  She  simply 
turns  her  forces  upon  him,  and  saves  enough 
material  to  produce  a  span  of  colts.  A  mis- 
sionary drops  out  of  the  moral  forces  of  this 
Christian  community;  but  he  comes  to  the  sur- 
face a  whole  Christian  household  among  the 
remedial  agencies  in  the  heart  of  heathenism. 
No  waste.  The  widest  hand  that  science  has 
yet  spread  out  in  the  universe  is  the  great  law 
of  the  Conservation  of  Energy.  Let  us  have 
the  courage  to  spread  it  out  palm  upward 
toward  God. 

The  most  critical  tests  of  this  law  respond 
10  145 


Missionary  Addresses. 

positively  to  our  careful  observation.  A 
coiled  spring,  imprisoning  certain  energy, 
does  not  waste  that  energy  when  the  spring 
is  dissolved  in  acid.  Even  with  our  clumsy 
apparatus  we  can  trace  it  into  results.  This 
soul  under  the  inspiration  of  God,  coiled  up 
in  the  grip  of  a  great  conviction,  is  dropped 
into  the  sea  of  Paganism.  There  will  come 
some  bubbling  to  the  surface  before  our  nat- 
ural senses,  indicating  some  hidden  disturb- 
ance. But  more  than  this,  there  has  been  de- 
veloped an  opposite  pole  of  God's  great  spir- 
itual batteries  in  His  kingdom,  and  soon  the 
depths  of  that  sea  of  Paganism  begin  to  throb 
with  light  and  new  life.  The  power  is  not 
wasted.  The  spiritual  energies  are  conserved. 
A  problem  in  modern  naval  warfare  is  to 
cushion  the  recoil.  It  is  not  desirable  to  kill 
one's  self  first  in  trying  to  kill  one's  enemy. 
This  is  another  application  of  the  great  law  of 
the  Conservation  of  Energy.  In  this  cruder 
form  we  call  it  action  and  reaction.  God  has 
projected  this  law  into  the  spiritual  world, 
and  has  so  cushioned  the  recoil  that  every 
projectile  hurled  at  the  enemy  drives  the  ship 
toward  the  haven.  Thus  it  is  forever  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.    This  law  of 

146 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

the  Conservation  of  Energy,  of  action  and 
reaction,  of  compensation,  of  reflex  influence, 
has  its  highest  manifestation  in  mission  work, 
the  highest  work  known  among  mortals.  This 
is  the  substance  of  the  law;  these  outer  put- 
tings of  it  are  only  the  shadow.  This  spiritual 
substance  of  the  law  Is  the  reason,  the  final 
cause,  of  its  existence.  The  outer  applications 
in  things,  in  science,  are  only  the  coarse  illus- 
trations of  the  law,  invented  and  ordered 
simply  to  reveal  and  emphasize  the  original 
and  eternal  law,  just  as  the  relation  of  father- 
hood among  us  is  a  type  of  the  ancient  and 
original  idea  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God. 

The    reflex   influence   appears   on   the   hal-  The  Re- 
ance  sheet  of   the   races.     All  the  rivers  run  J''^"'  . 

jiuence  oj 

into    the    sea.      The    sea    exhales    an    almost  Mm/o«j 
imperceptible    mist    of    infinitesimal    atoms, " -^^^^ '" 
which,    wafted   by    the    winds,    float    in    the  merce. 
clouds,    the    argosies    of    the    skies,    over   the 
deserts,    and    unload    their    cargoes    on    the 
wharves,   the  barren   mountain-sides.     There 
the  process  of  distribution  is  reversed.     The 
atoms  of  moisture  are  gathered  in  Nature's 
close    economy    into    repositories.      Here    a 
little  spring  comes  up  to  the  surface,  barely 
large  enough  to  be  visible.    It  is  so  small  that 

H7 


Missionary  Addresses. 

the  hoof  of  the  passing  chamois  might  trample 
it  out,  or  a  stray  sunbeam  drink  it  dry.  But 
there  are  back  of  it  the  everlasting  tides  of 
the  ocean.  The  hoof  of  the  wild  chamois 
only  gives  it  a  curbing,  and  the  hunting  sun- 
beam only  sets  a  jewel  in  its  bosom.  It  throbs 
with  the  swells  of  the  sea.  It  overflows  its 
narrow  curbing.  It  creeps  over  the  edge  of 
the  summit.  It  drips  past  the  crags  where 
the  eagle  has  hung  her  nest.  Singing  and 
shouting,  it  leaps  down  the  mountain-side, 
rushes  out  into  the  valley,  crawls  through  the 
plain,  fructifying  a  green  path  beneath  the 
willows;  deepening  and  widening  it,  it  sweeps 
across  the  continent,  marking  the  boundaries 
of  empire;  carrying  on  its  broad  bosom  the 
navies  and  commerce  of  the  world,  it  sweeps 
out  into  the  ocean  forever.  All  rivers  run  into 
the  sea. 

This  is  a  dim  shadow  of  this  deeper  law 
operating  among  the  commercial  interests  of 
the  world.  The  Christian  peoples  exhale  an 
almost  imperceptible  mist  of  infinitesimal 
atoms  of  benevolence,  which  are  wafted  by 
God's  Spirit  over  the  moral  deserts,  and  un- 
loaded on  the  sides  of  the  barren  mountains 
of  Paganism.     Here  and  there  they  touch  a 

148 


The  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

darkened,  aching  heart,  cooling  its  fever  of 
sin  and  quenching  its  fire  of  passion;  gather- 
ing a  half-formed  family,  the  divine  fountain 
of  the  Church;  uniting  these  units,  these 
streamlets,  into  the  babbling  brook  of  a  pray- 
ing community.  This  rushes  down  the  sides 
of  Paganism;  joining  with  other  brooks,  it 
sweeps  out  over  the  desert  of  heathenism; 
leaving  behind  it  the  flowers  and  fruitage  of 
the  garden,  it  carries  on  its  bosom  the  health 
and  wealth  and  commerce  of  the  Christian 
world. 

The  movement  of  this  divine  saving  truth 
has  all  the  certainty  of  God's  everlasting  pur- 
pose of  redeeming  love.  Its  every  step  is  a 
blessing,  its  every  word  a  treasure,  its  every 
breath  a  benediction.  Dropped  into  a  Pagan 
nation,  at  first  it  seems  like  a  lamb  among 
hungry  lions.  But  the  lions'  mouths  are 
stopped,  and  in  the  bottom  of  the  den  are 
found  the  steps  of  the  Throne.  In  the  midst 
of  the  Throne  appears  a  Lamb,  as  it  had  been 
slain.  The  end  is  a  crown,  a  scepter,  and  an 
everlasting  kingdom. 

First  it  is  a  perception,  then  a  conception, 
then  an  idea,  then  a  conviction,  then  a  pur- 
pose, then  an  infection,  then  a  contagion,  then 

149 


Missionary  Addresses. 

a  revolution,  then  a  new  civilization.  The 
desert,  blooming  and  fruiting  like  a  garden, 
fills  the  ships  and  storehouses  of  the  world 
from  its  waving  harvests.  Thus  the  prayer 
of  the  believing  child  and  the  tears  of  the 
faithful  missionary  increase  the  commerce  of 
all  seas,  and  appear  on  the  balance  sheet  of 
the  world. 

The  greatest  demand  of  capital  is  security. 
The  first  requisite  of  commerce  is  peace. 
England  keeps  her  war-dogs  muzzled,  be- 
cause her  merchantmen  vanish  from  the  sea 
when  these  rabies  are  turned  loose.  Missions 
insure  friendly  coasts.  In  roaming  the  high 
seas,  one  occasionally  encounters  "old  salts" 
who  decry  missionaries  as  useless,  and  assert 
that  they  never  do  any  good.  This  falsehood 
is  like  the  cat.  You  can  trample  the  life  out 
of  it,  and  kill  it  eight  times ;  still  it  will  squall 
and  scratch.  In  crossing  the  Indian  Ocean 
I  heard  the  objections  of  a  sporting  traveler 
who  had  been  tiger-hunting  in  the  jungles 
about  the  foothills  of  the  Himalayas.  He 
said:  "There  are  no  converts  to  Christianity  in 
India,  no  native  Christians.  I  have  traveled 
all  over  India,  and  I  never  saw  one."  Recall- 
ing the  question  of  another,  I  asked  him,  "Did 

150 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

you  find  any  tigers?"  He  said,  "Yes,  sir, 
plenty  of  them."  I  said,  "You  hunted  for 
them,  did  you  not?"  He  said,  "That  is  what 
I  went  for."  I  said,  "I  have  traveled  the 
length  and  breadth  of  India,  and  I  never  saw 
a  wild  tiger.  I  did  find  many  native  Chris- 
tians.   We  find  what  we  hunt  for." 

I  have  heard  of  a  skeptical  sea-captain  who 
never  hesitated  to  insult  missionaries  sailing 
with  him.  His  vessel  wrecked  among  the 
Friendly  Islands,  the  most  unfriendly  of  can- 
nibal coasts.  He  and  two  or  three  of  his  crew 
drifted  to  the  land.  He  said,  "Perhaps  it 
would  be  better  to  be  drowned  than  eaten." 
Timidly  they  crawled  up  onto  the  top  of  the 
coast  range  of  bluffs,  and  looked  cautiously 
over  into  the  valley  beyond,  when  he  shouted: 
"Thank  God,  there  is  the  spire  of  a  church! 
The  missionaries  are  here.  We  will  not  be 
eaten." 

The  celebrated  scientist,  Charles  Darwin, 
speaking  of  these  objectors  and  of  this  work 
("Researches  in  Natural  History  and  Geol- 
ogy") among  the  Tahitians,  says:  "They  will 
not  remember  that  human  sacrifices  or  prof- 
ligacy unparalleled  elsewhere,  infanticide, 
bloody  wars,  have  been   abolished,  and  that 

151 


Missionary  Addresses. 

dishonesty,  intemperance,  and  licentiousness 
have  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  introduction 
of  Christianity.  In  a  voyager  to  forget  these 
things  is  base  ingratitude.  Should  he  be  ship- 
wrecked on  an  unknow^n  coast  he  v^ill  devoutly 
pray  that  the  missionary  may  have  preceded 
him."  "But,"  he  continues,  "it  is  useless  to 
argue  against  such  reasoners.  I  believe  that, 
disappointed  in  not  finding  the  field  of  licen- 
tiousness quite  so  open  as  formerly,  they  w^ill 
not  give  credit  to  a  morality  which  they  do 
not  wish  to  practice."  Professor  Charles  Dar- 
win can  hardly  be  discounted  as  a  religious 
bigot.  I  leave  these  objectors  under  the  sacri- 
ficial knife  of  their  own  high  priest. 

In  the  old  Pagan  days  of  the  Marshall  Is- 
lands many  a  ship's  crew  was  slaughtered, 
leaving  no  one  to  tell  the  story  of  their  deaths. 
These  barbarians,  touched  by  the  gospel,  have 
become  as  brave  for  the  rescue  of  missionaries. 
Places  noted  for  piracy  have  become  as  noted 
for  Christian  zeal.  Hundreds  of  thousands 
of  pounds  have  been  sent  to  Christian  ports 
saved  from  wrecks  by  Christian  natives. 
President  Lincoln  sent  a  reward  to  Kekela,  a 
native  Christian  of  the  Marquesas  Islands, 
for  rescuing  a  condemned  missionary  by  giv- 

152 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

ing  his  new  six-oared  boat  as  a  ransom  to  the 
chief. 

The  ivory  trade  in  Western  Africa  was 
nearly  exterminated  by  the  perfidy  of  the  na- 
tives. After  the  missionaries  had  put  in  their 
work  the  trade  revived.  It  came  up  with 
Christianity.  Unconverted  Pagans  seldom 
tolerate  civilized  habits  and  comforts.  Eu- 
ropean houses  stood  unoccupied  in  Tahiti  for 
years.  No  natives  cared  for  them  till  they 
were  converted.  Unconverted  native  women 
live  half  nude  among  Christian  women;  con- 
verted, they  seek  gowns,  bonnets,  and  shawls. 

A  Hottentot  boy  dressed  like  an  English 
gentleman  was  educated  in  several  languages 
in  India.  Returning  to  his  people  he  threw 
aside  everything  but  his  sword  and  his  neck- 
tie, and  resumed  the  habits  of  the  Bush.  "It 
takes  more  than  fine  clothes  and  languages  to 
make  a  Christian."  Natives  converted  dress 
themselves ;  unconverted,  they  relapse  into 
nudity. 

Converted  Zulus  till  level  pieces  of  land 
with  plows  and  oxen ;  unconverted  Zulus 
choose  steep  parts  of  the  hills  to  be  tilled  by 
their  wives,  while  they  eat  their  oxen.  Chris- 
tian nations  have  made  more  out  of  plows  sent 


Missionary  Addresses. 

to  the  converted  Zulus  than  it  cost  to  convert 
them.  Some  natives  in  Western  Africa  have 
built  fine  European  houses,  copying  the  col- 
onists, but,  leaving  them  unoccupied,  continue 
to  live  in  their  huts  from  depraved  choice. 

Take  the  familiar  case  of  the  Sandwich  Isl- 
ands. It  cost  less  than  $1,200,000  to  Christian- 
ize the  Sandwich  Islands.  We  now  have  from 
$5,000,000  to  $8,000,000  of  commerce,  mak- 
ing in  net  profit  annually  about  as  much  as  the 
entire  cost  of  Christianizing  them.  From  the 
South  Sea  Islands  England  annually  receives 
ten  pounds  for  every  pound  she  expends  there. 
From  Micronesia  the  United  States  receives 
annually  more  than  $40  for  each  dollar  spent 
on  rriissions  there.  An  immigrant  is  valued 
in  Washington  at  $800.  Each  missionary  in 
the  South  Sea  Islands  is  worth  to  England 
$10,000  each  year. 

It  cost  the  United  States  to  support  the 
heathen  Dakotas  an  average  of  $120  each  per 
year,  while  it  cost  to  care  for  the  Christian 
Dakotas  less  than  $7.80  each  per  year.  Com- 
ment is  unnecessary.  I  saw  a  Digger  Indian 
in  the  Yosemite  Valley,  under  the  civilizing 
influence  of  that  most  sublime  scenery,  get  his 
breakfast  out  of  an  ant's  nest  with  a  sharp 


TJie  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

Stick.  And  he  could  clothe  himself  for  twelve 
months  on  ten  cents  worth  of  cotton.  You  can 
not  carry  on  a  commerce  with  such  a  people. 
When  these  barbarians  are  converted  they 
want  something.  Their  wives  want  bonnets, 
and  shawls,  and  shoes,  and  gloves,  and  rib- 
bons, and  their  children  want  books  and  pic- 
tures. Then  they  will  work,  then  they  must 
work.  It  is  the  Christian  family  with  its  mul- 
tiplied wants  that  spurs  up  and  keeps  up  the 
average  man.  Then  you  can  trade  with  him. 
He  wants  something.  This  means  commerce. 
The  annual  business  of  England  is  $ioo  for 
each  person,  of  France  $50,  of  the  United 
States  $50,  of  China  less  than  $3,  of  Africa 
$1.25.  When  we  have  Christianized  the 
heathen  nations  and  brought  their  w^ants  and 
activities  up  to  the  level  of  Christian  nations, 
we  will  have  added  many  billions  to  the  com- 
merce of  the  world.  Missions  have  never 
drawn  from  the  world's  pocket-book  ten  per 
cent  of  what  they  have  put  into  that  pocket- 
book.  Their  reflex  influence  appears  on  the 
balance-sheet  of  the  races. 

This  is  the  old  law  of  gravity  applied  to 
spiritual  things.  In  the  universe,  worlds  are 
drawn    toward    the    sun    according    to    their 


Missionary  Addresses. 

weight.  The  heavier  the  planet,  the  more 
powerfully  it  is  drawn  toward  the  sun.  So  it 
is  in  spiritual  things.  The  man  who  spreads 
his  arms  out  under  the  race,  trying  to  lift  it 
to  higher  levels,  is  by  that  very  burden  made 
more  weighty,  and  is  therefore  drawn  up 
more  powerfully  toward  God.  It  is  always 
more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.  He  who 
loses  his  life,  finds  it.  Dying,  the  seed  bears 
an  hundred-fold. 

The  figures  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  world's 
balance-sheet  are  greatly  augmented  by  the 
waste  of  the  best  wealth  of  a  race  that  is  al- 
ways found  in  the  life  and  character  of  the 
people.  The  depravation  and  consequent 
deprivations  enforced  by  heathenism  cuts 
short  the  wealth-producing  power  of  men  by 
shortening  their  lives.  The  average  life  in 
heathen  and  Pagan  lands  is  little  more  than 
one-half  what  it  is  in  Christian  lands,  and  in 
some  fields  it  is  but  little  more  than  one-third. 
The  introduction  of  Christianity  would  stop 
this  waste.  Money  put  Into  missions  would 
thus  add  vastly  to  the  world's  aggregate 
wealth.  It  is  the  blindest  and  most  ruinous 
economy  to  withhold  any  of  the  needed  treas- 
ure from  the  treasury  of  missions.    The  econ- 

iS6 


The  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

omy  of  the  merchant  who  allowed  his  most 
costly  wines  to  run  to  waste  rather  than  invest 
a  penny  in  corks  with  which  to  cork  the  open 
bungholes,  was  vastly  wiser  than  that  of  the 
Christian  nations  that  refuse  the  money  neces- 
sary to  stop  the  waste  of  heathenism. 

It  is  impossible  to  measure  the  blunders  that 
mar  our  own  balance-sheet  without  estimating 
the  rich  investments  we  overlook  in  our  habit 
of  mere  local  observation.  The  record  of 
each  of  the  great  evangelical  Churches  dem- 
onstrates that  it  costs  more  than  three  times 
as  much  to  secure  the  conversion  of  a  hundred 
souls  in  Christendom  as  it  does  in  the  depths 
of  heathenism.  We  neglect  our  best  oppor- 
tunities. When  will  we  cease  to  burn  out  our 
candle  at  both  ends?  When  will  we  learn 
better  than  to  wear  out  the  bore  of  our  guns 
scaring  the  game?  Facts  are  God's  argu- 
ments. Events  are  God's  logic.  Let  us  study 
the  stern  logic  of  events.  For  the  reflex  influ- 
ence of  misions  is  found  everywhere  in  com- 
merce. 

Science    is    deeply    indebted    to    missions.  The  Re- 
I  can  only  catalogue   a   few  of  the  rich   re-^"^'""  ^ 
suits  in  this  department.     The  field  is  as  o\^  Missions. 
as  Christian  thought,  and  as  wide  as  the  out- 

157 


Missionary  Addresses. 

most  circle  of  civilization.  There  is  not  a 
department  of  science,  from  that  touching  the 
wild  water-lily  as  it  nods  and  nods,  keeping 
time  with  the  melody  of  the  waves,  and  like 
a  vestal  virgin  pouring  out  her  incense  upon 
the  airy  altar,  to  that  calculating  the  unnum- 
bered ages  chiseled  into  the  hoary  foundations 
of  the  earth,  and  "reading  the  unread  manu- 
scripts of  God,"  or  from  that  pursuing  the 
crude  animal  races  down  to  their  extinction, 
to  that  tracking  man  from  his  fierce  barbar- 
isms up  to  his  kingship  with  the  Almighty; 
or  from  that  watching  the  meteor  flashing  a 
moment  athwart  the  gloom  and  going  out  in 
darkness  to  that  studying  the  suns  that  blaze 
on  in  the  firmament  forever  and  forever, — 
there  is  not  a  department  of  science  that  does 
not  feel  the  divine  presence  of  the  life-giving 
spirit  of  missions. 

That  plain  old  science  of  Geography,  that 
plowboy  among  the  sciences,  so  thoroughly  of 
the  earth  earthy,  is  almost,  like  Philology  and 
Ethnology,  a  missionary  science.  Much  of  its 
ancient  domain  has  been  recovered,  and  nearly 
all  its  modern  domain  has  been  secured  by 
missionaries.  Dr.  W.  M.  Thomson  has  re- 
cast the  map  of  Syria  and  unfolded  the  val- 

158 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

leys  and  plains  of  Palestine.  Mr.  Colton,  the 
chart-maker,  says,  "There  is  scarcely  an  ex- 
ploration in  any  land  that  does  not  acknowl- 
edge its  indebtedness  to  missionaries."  Carl 
Ritter,  the  celebrated  geographer,  says  he 
could  not  have  written  his  great  work  but  for 
the  material  furnished  by  missionaries.  Dr. 
Kropf  made  the  discoveries  that  led  Speke 
and  Grant  to  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  so  vainly 
sought  ever  since  the  days  of  Ptolemy,  discov- 
eries without  which  those  sources  might  not 
even  yet  have  been  found. 

In  the  autumn  of  1842  some  British  Qxm- Salving 
grants  from  Red  River  went  into  Walla  ^''^'^''"• 
Walla  and  said  to  Dr.  Whitman,  a  mission- 
ary, "Now  the  Americans  may  whistle,  the 
country  is  ours."  The  governor-general,  Sir 
George  Simpson,  in  his  report,  "defied  Con- 
gress to  establish  the  Atlantic  tariff  in  the 
Pacific  ports."  Dr.  Whitman  started  that 
night,  left  his  family  with  the  Methodist  mis- 
sionary at  the  Dalles,  and  made  his  way  across 
the  Continent  in  spite  of  hostile  Indians  and 
an  inclement  winter.  In  the  early  spring  he 
reached  Washington,  and  called  on  Daniel 
Webster,  Secretary  of  State,  and  urged  the 
holding    of    Oregon.      Webster    said,    "Sir 

159 


Missionary  Addresses. 

George  Simpson  says  wagons  can  not  cross 
the  mountains,  and  I  am  about  trading  the 
worthless  territory  for  valuable  concessions  in 
relation  to  the  Newfoundland  cod-fishermen." 
Dr.  Whitman  urged  his  convictions  upon 
President  Tyler.  Tyler  said:  "Dr.  Whitman, 
since  you  are  a  missionary  I  will  believe  you. 
The  treaty  will  not  be  ratified."  One  mission- 
ary did  something  in  shaping  the  map  of  this 
country,  and  secured  for  our  Government 
more  than  all  we  gained  by  the  Mexican  War, 
without  any  of  its  crime  and  disgrace. 

Missionary  Vrooman  made  a  map  of  Can- 
ton and  its  suburbs  that  guided  the  British 
fleet  in  the  bombardment  of  the  city  in  1856. 
Dr.  Long,  Methodist  missionary  to  Bulgaria, 
teaching  in  Robert  College,  has  trained  the 
youth  of  Bulgaria  and  kindled  in  their  brain 
new  thoughts  of  manhood,  and  has  thus  made 
the  magnificent  struggle  for  freedom  in  that 
land  a  fact  and  the  autonomy  and  liberty  of 
Bulgaria  possible. 

Philology,  the  searchlight  of  antiquity  that 
throws  its  X-rays  upon  the  body  of  a  lan- 
guage, and  reveals  the  hidden  secrets  of  its 
remote  past,  is  strictly  a  missionary  science. 
Comparative   Philology  had   its  origin   in   a 

160 


The  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

comparison  of  translations  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  the  fifteenth  century.  In  1784, 
Hervas  published  his  polyglot  vocabulary  in 
one  hundred  and  fifty  languages  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer  in  more  than  three  hundred. 
Nearly  all  known  languages  have  been  mas- 
tered by  missionaries.  They  have  reduced 
many  merely  spoken  languages  to  a  written 
form.  They  have  compiled  dictionaries, 
braided  grammars,  translated  literatures,  and 
uncovered  whatever  of  wealth  the  languages 
have  contained.  It  is  by  this  science,  based 
on  their  labors,  that  we  can  trace  the  migra- 
tions and  wanderings  of  the  races  and  tribes 
of  men  in  prehistoric  times.  We  sometimes 
discover  kinsmen  among  enemies,  as  we  see 
the  Greeks  and  Persians,  age-long  enemies, 
springing  from  the  same  stalk;  we  sometimes 
find  friends  to  be  of  widely  separated  fam- 
ilies, as  the  Greeks  and  Egyptians.  Thus  we 
find  the  Hawaiian  and  the  New  Zealander, 
separated  by  five  thousand  miles  of  sea,  able 
to  understand  each  other  on  first  meeting. 
Through  this  deep  science  we  may  yet  unravel 
the  ancient  history  of  our  North  American' 
Indians. 

Ethnology    is    a    twin-sister    to    Philology, 
II  161 


Missionary  Addresses. 

born  in  a  missionary  parsonage.  Mission- 
aries, living  with  the  people,  studying  their 
habits  and  prejudices  as  well  as  their  lan- 
guage and  histories,  have  every  opportunity 
to  master  all  the  characteristics  that  distin- 
guish each  race  and  tribe.  With  only  ordi- 
nary ability,  surrounded  with  such  extraor- 
dinary advantages,  they  must  become  masters 
in  this  science  and  repositories  of  its  materials. 
Arch(£ology,  that  mummy  of  the  sciences, 
holding  in  its  bosom  the  secrets  of  the  inter- 
minable past,  lays  many  of  her  treasures  at 
the  feet  of  the  missionaries.  Dr.  Lobdell's 
notes  on  Anabasis,  giving  his  experiences  over 
the  regions  traversed  by  Xenophon,  describ- 
ing the  distances,  modes  of  travel  and  of  cross- 
ing rivers,  arms,  dress  and  customs  of  the  peo- 
ple, roll  back  the  tide  of  twenty-two  hundred 
years,  and  reproduce  the  times  and  trials  of 
the  old  Greek  warriors.  He  discovers  and 
describes  the  quarries  from  which  were  taken 
the  limestone  blocks  for  Nimrod's  palace. 
Dr.  Allen,  watching  the  erection  of  a  temple 
in  the  Marathi  country,  as  they  pack  the  walls 
about  with  dirt  inside  and  out  as  fast  as  the 
walls  rise,  thus  making  an  inclined  plane  up 
which  the  blocks  of  stone  are  pulled  by  men, 

162 


The  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

finds  the  secret  of  how  those  huge  stones  in 
Baalbec  were  brought  to  their  places.  From 
the  pens  of  missionaries  we  have  descriptions 
of  the  reservoir  of  Old  Carthage  and  of  the 
ancient  subterranean  corn  magazines  of  Trip- 
oli. A  modern  missionary,  Dr.  Anderson, 
takes  us  through  Asia  Minor  to  visit  once 
more  the  Seven  Churches.  A  missionary  sent 
home  some  of  the  gold  coins  of  Philip  and 
Alexander  dug  up  at  Sidon  in  1853.  Who 
has  given  us  the  oldest  and  most  reliable 
knowledge  of  China  during  the  last  two  cen- 
turies? Missionaries.  Whose  history  of  Ice- 
land h  most  ancient  and  reliable  concerning 
the  people,  the  geology,  history,  literature, 
and  poetry?  Dr.  Henderson's,  a  missionary. 
Whose  pen  do  we  follow  through  Greenland? 
Hans  Egede's,  a  missionary.  Whence  our  early 
and  reliable  knowledge  of  Australia  and  New 
Zealand?  From  Marsden,  a  missionary.  With 
whom  do  we  explore  South  Africa  or  South 
America?  Jesuits,  missionaries.  What  his- 
tory of  China  is  authority  to-day  on  people, 
animals,  plants,  products  and  history?  ''Mid- 
dle Kingdom,"  by  Williams,  a  missionary. 
Time  forbids  my  specifying  the  volumes  of 
history,  and  of  natural  science,  and  of  geology, 

163 


Missionary  Addresses. 

and  of  botany,  and  of  the  learned  articles  In 
the  proceedings  of  the  scientific  associations 
and  scientific  periodicals,  and  of  current  liter- 
ature, and  of  the  valuable  boxes  of  rare  archae- 
ological specimens  which  enrich  the  illustra- 
tive materials  of  our  great  colleges  and  uni- 
versities. There  is  hardly  a  forest  or  a  river 
or  a  lake  that  has  not  been  described  by  some 
missionary.  There  is  hardly  an  animal,  from 
the  lion  to  the  red  ant,  from  the  gorilla  break- 
ing a  gun  in  his  hands  to  the  Amazons  com- 
posing the  body-guard  of  the  king  whose  term 
of  reproach  for  a  coward  is,  "You  are  a  man," 
that  has  not  been  described  by  missionaries. 
No  wonder  the  Smithsonian  "Contributions 
to  Knowledge"  (Vol.  XVII)  says  of  mission- 
aries :  "There  is  no  class  of  men,  whether 
viewed  as  scholars  or  philanthropists,  who 
have  earned  a  higher  reputation.  Their  con- 
tributions to  history,  to  ethnology,  to  philol- 
ogy, to  geography,  and  to  religious  literature, 
form  an  enduring  monument  to  their  fame." 
No  wonder  that  Professor  Agassiz  said:  *'We 
owe  missionaries  much  for  their  intelligent 
observation  of  facts  and  for  their  collecting  of 
specimens.  We  must  look  to  them  not  a  little 
for  aid  in  our  efforts  to  advance  future  sci- 

164 


The  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

ence."  Professor  Silliman  says,  "It  would  be 
impossible  to  ignore  their  important  contri- 
butions to  science."  Dr.  A.  A.  Gould  and 
Professor  J.  D.  Dana  give  clear  testimony  to 
the  invaluable  aid  of  missionaries.  The  great 
astronomer,  Herschel,  proffered  a  vote  of 
thanks  from  the  Royal  Society  to  Dr.  Stod- 
dard, of  Persia.  Surely  science  can  never  pay 
her  debt  to  missions,  and  ought  never  to  deny 
the  debt. 

This  mission  work  stirs  the  thoughtful  man  There- 
to his  very  depths  by  its  very  vastness.  flexm- 

-^  -^  -^     .  fluence  oj 

No  man  can  plan  a  campaign  as  wide  2i%  Mission: 
the  race  for  universal  dominion  without  being '"^"' 

,  ,    ,  ,  -r      .      .  tellectual. 

enlarged  by  the  very  purpose,  it  is  impos- ^^,^-^,/^ 
sible  to  take  in  God's  great  thought  concern- 
ing the  race,  and  not  stretch  up  to  greater 
measurements.  Once  there  was  on  this  island 
only  rocks  and  sinkholes,  and  Indians  and 
wolves.  But  there  came  over  from  England, 
and  from  Ireland,  and  from  Scotland,  and 
from  Germany,  and  from  all  the  Continent, 
a  million  and  a  half  of  people,  and  crowded  in 
onto  this  island.  It  could  not  be  otherwise 
that  there  should  spring  up  these  towering 
castles  of  commerce  and  palaces  of  comfort. 
The  tramping  of  these  millions  of  feet  inevit- 

165 


Missionary  Addresses. 

ably  beat  out  these  paved  avenues  and  thor- 
oughfares. The  working  of  these  restless 
brains  created  these  vast  business  establish- 
ments. The  beating  of  these  anxious  hearts 
built  these  elegant  homes.  So  you  may 
take  a  human  mind  familiar  only  with  the 
crude  and  tangible,  confined  to  the  things  that 
perish,  pour  into  that  mind  the  great  ideas  of 
God,  and  of  immortality,  and  of  accountabil- 
ity, and  of  sin,  and  of  redemption,  and  of 
mercy,  and  of  pardon,  and  of  eternal  life,  and 
it  can  not  be  but  that  mind  will  feel  a  quick- 
ening. It  straightens  up,  looks  up  toward 
God,  stretches  out  toward  Him  and  rises  to 
greater  measurements  and  feels  a  mightier  tide 
of  life. 

Let  a  man  become  possessed  of  the  Spirit 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  it  will  intensify 
and  enlarge  his  nature.  When  the  evil 
spirit  possesses  a  man,  it  deforms  and  en- 
slaves him  and  reduces  his  individuality. 
It  dwarfs  him.  In  demoniacal  possessions 
he  is  the  tool  or  instrument  used  by  the 
demons.  They  act  and  speak  for  him,  say- 
ing, "Our  name  is  legion.  Let  us  alone." 
But  when  the  Spirit  of  God  possesses  a  man, 
his  individuality  is  enlarged,  crowned  with 

i66 


The  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

dominion.  He  is  able  to  stand  against  all  ad- 
versaries. Weapons  and  fagots  are  powerless. 
He  cries  with  Paul,  "I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me."  In 
this  field  and  work  of  saving  the  world  let  a 
man  have  the  Spirit  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
despised  the  shame  and  endured  the  cross  for 
our  sakes;  who,  though  He  were  rich, — rich 
in  all  the  gold  of  the  Ophirs,  and  Australias, 
and  Californias,  rich  in  the  adoration  of  all 
intelligences,  rich  in  the  unspeakable  glory  of 
the  Eternal  Court, — yet  for  our  sakes,  on  ac- 
count of  our  poverty,  became  poor,  entered 
into  our  disabilities,  drained  the  cup  of  our 
want  and  pain  and  wretchedness,  so  that  He 
had  not  where  to  lay  His  head,  with  no  hand 
to  help,  no  eye  to  pity;  staggering  and  drip- 
ping with  great  drops  of  agonizing  blood,  He 
cried  out  His  unspeakable  anguish,  in  the 
utter  and  outer  darkness  of  desertion,  "My 
God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me!" 
Let  a  man  take  a  little  of  this  spirit,  brooding 
over  the  needs  of  a  dying  world,  and  he  will 
inevitably  rise  into  fellowship  with  the  long- 
ing sufferings  of  the  Savior  and  into  kinship 
with  the  Infinite,  greater  and  more  vital  in 
every  faculty  and  force. 

167 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Char-  The  reflex  influence  of  missions  is  seen 
acter.  jj^  ^.j^^  development  of  exalted  character. 
The  greatest  creation  in  the  world  is  Man. 
"What  a  piece  of  work  is  a  man!  How  noble 
in  reason!  How  infinite  in  faculty!  In  form 
and  moving  how  express  and  admirable!  In 
action  how  like  an  angel,  in  apprehension  how 
like  a  god!"  (Hamlet,  ii,  2.)  The  arts  that 
touch  and  handle  him  must  be  the  highest  arts. 
The  forces  that  exalt  his  nature  must  be  the 
divinest  forces.  The  inspirations  that  ennoble 
him  must  be  of  infinite  value.  Manhood,  ex- 
alted manhood,  is  the  most  costly  thing  in  the 
universe.  To  produce  man  with  noble  char- 
acter is  the  one  problem  at  which  God  has 
toiled  all  the  ages.  He  can  make  a  world  with 
the  little  tips  of  His  fingers,  with  the  un- 
noticed breath  of  His  nostrils.  Wipe  out  all 
the  suns  and  systems  that  come  into  the  field 
of  our  most  widely  reaching  telescopes,  and 
with  one  word  God  could  speak  their  places 
full.  But  not  so  with  man.  To  make  him  at 
once  a  crowned  monarch  and  a  subject,  that 
is  the  structure  whose  foundation-stones  re- 
quired cementing  with  the  blood  of  the  Son 
of  God  on  Mount  Calvary;  that  required  the 
long  ages  of  redeeming  love;  that  yoked  to- 

168 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

gether  the  kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Whatever  helps  man  up  to  exalted 
character  is  above  price.  Alexander  of  Rus- 
sia ordered  the  best  watch  English  workmen 
could  produce.  He  admired  it.  But  when 
he  wanted  it  cleaned  he  found  no  workman 
in  his  Empire  able  to  handle  its  complicated 
mechanism.  He  had  to  send  for  its  maker  to 
come  and  clean  and  repair  it.  No  wonder  he 
highly  prized  it.  So  we  gather  some  idea  of 
the  value  and  greatness  of  man  with  an  ex- 
alted character  when  we  find  no  one  on  earth 
able  to  handle  his  complicated  nature,  and  it 
is  necessary  for  his  Maker  to  come  that  He 
may  put  him  in  order  again.  It  emphasizes 
man's  greatness  when  only  the  Being  that 
made  him  is  able  to  remake  him.  In  a  great 
and  earnest  sense  this  mission  work  is  one  of 
God's  favorite  ways  of  fitting  up  exalted  char- 
acter. These  mission  fields  are  God's  repair 
shops  out  along  the  line  where  characters  may 
be  improved  and  kept  in  the  service. 

Characters  are  achieved,  not  received. 
They  grow  out  of  the  substance  of  the  man's 
soul.  They  are  not  put  on  as  a  beggar  might 
put  on  a  stolen  coat.  They  mature  like  fruit 
from  the  vital  fluids  of  the  tree.    This  is  a  sign 

169 


Missionary  Addresses. 

of  their  genuineness;  they  grow  with  use.  A 
natural  limb  grows  stronger  and  better  with 
use. 

This  man  goes  into  the  gymnasium,  swings 
dumb-bells,  strikes  sacks  of  sand,  climbs  ropes, 
swings  on  crossbars,  and  thus  he  develops  a 
large  chest  and  heavy  muscle.  Another  man 
goes  into  a  machine-shop ;  he  pounds  and  lifts 
and  works  away  at  an  engine;  he  makes  an 
engine.  That  is  what  he  is  there  for.  But 
that  is  not  all  he  does.  He  also  develops  a 
large,  deep  chest  and  heavy  muscle.  This 
seems  incidental,  but  is  none  the  less  real. 
God  uses  both  these  ways  in  His  spiritual 
Kingdom,  but  chiefly  the  latter.  We  seem  to 
be  doing  some  outside  thing,  something  for 
some  one  else,  going  or  giving  to  the  mission 
fields,  but  we  are  really  working  for  ourselves, 
developing  exalted  characters. 

This  work,  this  mission  w^ork,  produces  the 
greatest  crop  of  exalted  character  everywhere. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  race,  but  of  grace.  It  is 
not  a  problem  of  good  blood,  but  of  the  Di- 
vine Blood.  God  is  not  hunting  good  clothes, 
but  great  needs.  Our  lostness  attracts  Him, 
and  He  hunts  us,  leaving  the  ninety  and  nine. 
We  become  attractive  to  Him  by  our  very 

170 


The  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

repulsiveness.  All  He  asks  is,  "Do  they  need 
Me?"  Then  He  undertakes  to  make  out  of 
them  new  creatures,  saints,  angels.  I  sent  a 
native  preacher,  a  Chinaman,  to  his  work  in 
the  Foochow  Conference,  who  had  this  in  his 
history:  After  he  was  converted,  and  had  stud- 
ied the  New  Testament  not  a  little,  he  felt 
called  to  preach,  to  tell  his  countrymen  the 
good  news.  When  he  had  fully  settled  that 
as  his  duty  he  went  into  the  crowded  street, 
and  got  upon  a  little  box,  and  began  preach- 
ing. Soon  a  mob  gathered,  knocked  him 
down  from  his  box,  beat  him  with  a  bundle 
of  bamboos,  dragged  him  through  the  city, 
and  threw  hirn  over  the  wall  for  dead.  He 
came  to,  went  down  to  a  little  brook  and 
washed  off  the  blood  and  dirt.  Then  he 
prayed,  saying,  "Lord  Jesus,  what  wilt  Thou 
have  me  to  do?"  Then  he  went  straight  back 
to  the  same  street,  got  upon  the  same  box  and 
preached  again.  Again  the  mob  rallied,  beat 
him,  dragged  him  out,  and  threw  him  over 
the  wall  for  dead.  Again  he  revived,  washed 
away  the  dirt  and  blood,  and  said,  "Lord 
Jesus,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do?"  Back 
he  went  to  the  same  little  box  and  preached  as 
before.    Again  the  mob  rallied  and  beat  him 

171 


Missionary  Addresses. 

down.  The  magistrates,  fearing  to  answer  for 
his  death,  sent  the  police  and  took  him  from 
the  mob  and  put  him  in  a  jail  that  faced  on  a 
little  open  square,  on  which  the  mob  gathered 
howling  and  throwing  up  dust.  He  went  to 
the  little  window,  put  his  hand  out  through 
the  gratings  and  beckoned  for  the  mob  to  be 
quiet.  When  they  quieted  a  little  he  pressed 
his  bruised  and  bleeding  face  up  against  the 
gratings  and  said,  "None  of  these  things  move 
me,  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself, 
so  that  I  might  finish  my  course  with  joy  and 
the  ministry  which  I  have  received  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  to  testify  the  gospel  of  the  grace 
of  God."  (Acts  XX,  24.)  The  old  martyrs 
did  no  better  than  that.  Even  Anglo-Saxons 
could  do  no  better.  This  man  wanted  to  be 
sent  to  that  people  as  his  regular  work. 

This  courage  reaches  whole  societies  and 
churches.  It  is  manifested  either  in  suffering 
persecution  or  in  sacrifices  out  of  their  pov- 
erty. In  the  Fukien  Province  you  see,  in  the 
fall,  barren  rocks  on  the  mountain-sides  cov- 
ered with  slices  of  sweet  potatoes  spread  out 
there  to  dry.  These  slices  of  dried  sweet  po- 
tatoes become  their  currency.  They  arc  worth 
less  than  the  one  hundredth  part  of  a  cent.    A 

172 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

people's  unit  of  exchange  indicates  the  size  of 
their  business  transactions.  I  know  a  church 
built  by  these  poor  people.  The  stewards  kept 
a  box  near  the  door,  into  which  the  members 
dropped  their  donations  of  dried  sweet-potato 
chips  as  their  contributions  to  the  new  church- 
building.  The  contributions  were  exceed- 
ingly small.  But  One  stood  by  the  door  and 
saw  them  cast  in  their  chips,  who  stood  by  that 
ancient  treasury  and  saw  the  poor  woman  cast 
in  her  two  mites.  He  accepted,  and  blessed 
the  offering,  and  out  of  their  poverty  a  church 
was  built. 

I  saw  and  appointed  a  certain  preacher  in 
Peking,  and  also  saw  his  mother,  a  faithful 
Bible-reader.  When  a  boy  this  man  came  to 
the  mission  and  was  converted.  Then  he  went 
back  into  the  country,  and  wheeled  his  mother 
on  a  wheelbarrow  four  hundred  miles  to  bring 
her  to  the  mission  that  she  might  hear  about 
the  Savior.  The  history  of  civilization  fur- 
nishes no  better  spirits  than  these.  The  cour- 
age of  the  old  heroes  is  not  a  lost  art. 

I  saw  a  converted  lad  in  Korea,  and  sent 
him  as  a  Bible-reader.  He  came  to  a  stream 
and  was  nearly  drowned  in  crossing  it.  A 
native   went    in    with    a   water-bufifalo,    and 

^7Z 


Missionary  Addresses. 

pulled  him  up  onto  the  animal's  back  and 
saved  him.  As  they  were  going  toward  the 
shore  the  lad  said:  "As  you  have  fished  me  up 
and  saved  me  from  death,  Jesus  Christ  wants 
to  fish  you  up  and  save  you  from  eternal  death. 
He  has  sent  me  out  to  be  a  fisher  of  men." 

A  native  preacher  in  Mexico  was  sent  to 
his  work.  The  priest  had  him  arrested  ana 
put  in  jail.  There,  in  the  court  or  inner  pateo, 
he  mingled  during  the  days  with  the  other 
prisoners  and  preached  the  gospel  to  them. 
Nearly  a  score  were  converted  under  his 
prison  ministry.  When  the  priest  came  on  his 
monthly  visit  to  celebrate  mass,  these  refused 
to  join  in  the  service.  The  priest  was  in  a 
strait,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  but  finally  had 
the  preacher  turned  out  as  his  only  chance  to 
protect  his  imprisoned  members.  Faithful 
unto  death  and  life! 

It  is  a  convenient  method  in  Mexico  to 
remove  a  prisoner  from  one  jail  to  another  in 
the  night,  shoot  him  on  the  way,  and  report 
that  he  attempted  to  escape.  One  of  our  im- 
prisoned native  preachers  learned  that  he  was 
to  be  moved  that  night.  He  knew  what  that 
meant.  He  saw  a  boy,  a  son  of  one  of  his 
members,  by  the  jail.     Like  Paul  at  Caesarea 

174 


The  Reflex  Influence   of  Missions. 

he  called  the  boy,  told  him  the  order,  and 
directed  him  to  tell  the  Church.  That  night 
before  dusk  the  entire  congregation  gathered 
about  the  prison  door  and  waited  for  their 
pastor  till  he  was  brought  out;  then  they  all 
walked  with  him  to  the  other  jail.  It  was  not 
safe  to  shoot  the  prisoner  before  so  many  wit- 
nesses.    Faithful  unto  death! 

It  was  my  privilege  to  found  the  first  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  in  St.  Petersburg, 
Russia.  I  took  a  presiding  elder  from  Fin- 
land and  a  Russian  converted  in  Finland. 
With  these,  and  with  my  wife  and  son,  in  a 
little  room  in  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre,  I  organ- 
ized the  Church  and  appointed  this  man  pas- 
tor under  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  between 
Russia  and  Finland.  As  we  went  down  to  the 
carriage  to  ride  by  the  hall  we  w^anted  to  hire 
the  pastor  said:  "Don't  talk  of  this  in  Eng- 
lish. No  doubt  the  driver  understands  Eng- 
lish, and  is  sent  by  the  police  to  report  your 
doings.  I  can  go  to  Siberia  if  necessary,  but 
I  prefer  to  work  here  under  the  treaty."  A 
year  later  one  of  my  colleagues  visited  the 
work.  As  he  went  down  the  gang-plank  onto 
the  dock  in  St.  Petersburg  a  splendid  looking 
man  said,  "Bishop  Warren?"    "Yes,  sir,"  was 

175 


Missionary  Addresses. 

the  reply.  This  was  the  pastor,  who  drove 
him  boldly  to  the  hall,  and  introduced  him 
to  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
St.  Petersburg,  where  he  had  a  thriving  soci- 
ety, safe  under  the  treaty  when  once  organ- 
ized. With  the  slightest  slip  under  the  letter 
of  the  treaty  this  pastor  would  go  to  Siberia 
to  die  in  the  mines,  without  trial  or  even  accu- 
sation. But  he  did  not  hesitate  in  his  duty, 
that  the  little  flock  might  have  the  gospel. 
St.  Paul  was  not  the  only  man  who  has  con- 
tended with  wild  beasts.  The  courage  and 
heroism  of  the  martyrs  thrive  around  the 
campfires  of  the  missionary  picket-line  all  the 
world  around. 

It  is  worth  more  than  all  it  costs  to  have  the 
home  Church  feel  a  kinship  to  these  heroic 
souls.  When  a  country  can  not  produce 
among  her  own  sons  men  willing  to  die  for 
their  liberties,  but  must  do  their  fighting  by 
mercenaries,  then  that  country  has  lost  its  lib- 
erties, and  has  nothing  left  worth  fighting  for. 
When  a  Church  reaches  the  state  where  she 
can  not  furnish  missionaries  and  keep  in  sym- 
pathy with  them,  she  has  reached  a  point 
where  she  has  nothing  worth  propagating.  It 
is  the  spirit  of  heroism  and  sacrifice  that  in- 

176 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

sures  spiritual  triumph.  No  man  is  worth 
much  in  the  spiritual  world  who  has  not  con- 
victions which  are  more  to  him  than  all  else, 
who  would  not  rather  die  than  recant.  No 
Church  can  long  remain  a  conquering  force 
who  has  not  the  missionary  spirit  and  under- 
stands the  word  of  Jesus,  "As  the  Father  hath 
sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you."  There  run 
through  the  ages  great  lines  of  spiritual 
power,  that  lift  and  mold  mankind.  These 
lines  are  as  resistless  as  God.  These  lines  can 
be  seized  only  by  the  writhing  hands  of  sacri- 
fice. Whenever  a  great  soul  seizes  these  eter- 
nal cables,  then  the  Church  is  shaken  out  of 
her  lethargy,  and  society  takes  a  new  start 
for  heaven. 

It  is  not  all  loss  to  sacrifice  for  God.  Often 
all  else  is  loss.  We  come  to  our  best  uses  in 
the  furnace.  The  old  refiner  of  gold  had  the 
secret  when  he  said  he  kept  the  gold  in  the 
crucible,  and  turned  on  the  heat  till  he  could 
see  his  own  face  in  the  metal.  So  God  refines 
the  gold  that  shall  decorate  his  temple  yonder. 
He  keeps  us  in  the  crucible,  and  turns  on  the 
heat,  taking  our  money  or  our  children  for 
this  work,  till  He  can  see  His  own  image 
in  us. 

12  177 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Sometimes  He  goes  beyond  taking  the  dross 
out  of  us,  and  ventures  to  improve  our  quality 
and  exalt  our  uses.  The  steel-workers  under- 
stand this  deep  law  in  the  heart  of  things. 
They  know  that  the  higher  the  temperature 
to  which  steel  is  raised  in  its  preparation,  the 
better  the  quality  and  the  more  exalted  its 
uses.  To  make  lancets,  instruments  meeting 
little  resistance,  the  temperature  must  not  go 
above  430°  Fht.  To  make  razors  and  surgical 
instruments,  it  must  go  up  to  450°  Fht.  For 
axes  and  plane  irons,  it  must  go  up  to  510° 
Fht.;  and  for  swords  and  watch-springs  it 
must  go  up  to  550°  Fht.  Something  like  this 
is  true  in  our  lives.  The  hotter  the  furnace, 
the  better  our  possible  uses.  For  moral  lan- 
cets, to  treat  the  coarser  distempers,  only  a  low 
temperature  is  required.  For  the  more  diffi- 
cult feats  of  the  skilled  surgeon,  separating 
between  the  joints  and  marrow,  higher  tem- 
perature must  be  endured.  If  we  are  to  be 
fit  for  swords  and  watch-springs,  to  be  trusted 
in  the  mortal  combat,  where  everything  de- 
pends upon  a  Damascus  blade  able  to  sever 
a  common  sword  without  turning  its  edge,  and 
go  into  a  spiral  scabbard  without  afifecting 
its  perfection,  or  be  springs  to  keep  time  with 

178 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

the  great  clocks  of  eternity,  then  we  must  en- 
dure a  higher  temperature.  It  is  an  unmeas- 
ured blessing  to  a  Church  to  have  the  sacri- 
fices of  this  mission  work  bring  up  the  tem- 
perature in  God's  furnace.  I  have  seen,  in 
these  days  of  electrical  forces,  a  new  heat  gen- 
erated by  the  powers  so  long  wasted  at  Ni- 
agara Falls.  Salt,  sand,  and  coke,  the  com- 
monest materials,  put  into  a  retort  and  held  in 
a  temperature  of  8,000°  Fht.  for  twenty-four 
hours,  are  forced  into  what  is  called  carbor- 
undum, a  kind  of  black  diamond.  This  will 
cut  everything  brought  against  it  except  the 
white  diamond.  It  may  be  that  higher  tem- 
peratures and  better  combinations  will  pro- 
duce the  costly  jewels.  When  I  have  thought 
of  missionary  mothers,  taking  their  little  chil- 
dren that  must  have  the  change  of  years  of  a 
temperate  climate  free  from  malaria  to  save 
them  from  imbecility,  down  to  a  steamer 
about  to  sail  for  the  far-away  home-land,  and 
looking  over  the  strange  faces  of  the  passen- 
gers to  find  some  woman  to  whom  she  can 
intrust  them  during  the  long  voyage;  some 
woman  to  care  for  them  if  they  sicken  on  the 
sea,  and  thus  send  them  to  strangers  to  train 
and  educate  them,  and  at  night  listen  to  their 

179 


Missionary  Addresses. 

prayers  which  the  mother  has  taught  them, 
perhaps  not  to  notice  when  the  mother's  name 
is  dropped  out  of  those  prayers, — when  I  have 
thought  of  these  sacrifices,  bravely  made  for 
the  sake  of  the  Master,  I  have  felt  that  the 
temperature  is  at  last  up  to  the  point  where 
the  white  diamonds  are  made  for  the  diadem 
of  the  King.  This  mission  work  is  worth 
more  than  it  costs  for  the  heroic  martyr  spirit 
with  which  it  inspires  the  Church. 

There  is  woven  into  all  the  cordage  of  the 
British  navy,  in  every  hawser,  rope,  or  cord, 
no  matter  how  large  or  how  small,  a  crimson 
thread.  It  is  so  woven  in  that  it  can  not  be 
taken  out  without  unbraiding  the  rope  or  cord 
itself.  Thus  any  little  piece,  no  matter  how 
short,  found  anywhere,  can  be  instantly  recog- 
nized as  a  part  of  the  Royal  cordage.  So,  in 
a  way,  this  mission  work  stamps  all  the  work 
of  the  spiritual  Church,  the  Body  of  Christ. 
There  is  so  much  of  sacrifice  about  it,  the 
making  up  of  that  which  is  behind  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ,  that  it  runs  a  crimson  thread 
through  every  consecrated  life,  however  great 
or  humble,  or  obscure  or  small,  and  identifies 
it  as  a  part  of  the  sacrificial  work  offered  for 
the  world's  salvation. 

1 80 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

The  reflex  influence  of  missions  inspires//o/>^. 
the  hope  of  speedy  triumph.  The  ages 
have  passed  slowly  in  the  darkness,  but 
the  Church  is  now  kindling  her  beacon- 
fires  on  the  mountain-tops  everywhere.  In 
Constantinople  once,  on  the  sultan's  birth- 
day, I  saw  that  great  old  cathedral,  St.  Sofia, 
illumined.  Everywhere,  along  the  aisles,  and 
around  the  chancel,  and  along  the  gallery 
fronts,  and  around  the  columns,  and  in  the 
alcoves  and  niches,  and  in  and  about  all  the 
windows, — everywhere,  were  placed  candles 
and  tapers,  by  the  hundred  and  by  the  thou- 
sand. As  the  shades  of  evening  gathered  in 
and  settled  in  the  gloomy  recesses  of  the  build- 
ing, a  multitude  of  men  attached  to  the 
Church,  and  their  assistants,  were  seen  every- 
where with  their  torches  lighting  the  candles 
and  tapers.  The  smoke  from  their  torches 
and  from  the  candles  seemed  almost  to  add 
to  the  gloom.  Now  and  then  a  gust  from  an 
open  window  extinguished  the  flickering 
tapers.  It  took  much  time;  but  we  could  see, 
b}''  the  glimmering  lights  and  lines  of  tapers 
in  the  distance,  that  the  great  building  w^as  il- 
lumined; seen  from  the  outside  the  lines  of 
burning  tapers  gave  a  dim  outline  to  the  great 

i8i 


Missionary  Addresses. 

structure,  up  against  a  dark  sky.  As  I 
watched  the  tedious  process,  I  thought.  This 
is  not  altogether  unlike  the  work  of  the 
Church  in  the  early  centuries  lighting  the 
world.  The  messengers  and  torch-bearers 
stumbled  along  through  the  great  masses  of 
heathenism  and  Pagan  superstition,  here  and 
there  kindling  a  taper  and  awakening  a  better 
hope;  many  of  the  tapers  and  torches  extin- 
guished by  the  migrations  of  the  tribes  and 
nations;  many  quenched  in  blood  by  the  red 
hand  of  war,  yet  slowly  gaining  on  the  dark- 
ness and  spreading  the  circles  of  the  light. 

I  have  since  seen  another  illumination  that 
suits  me  better.  It  was  yonder  in  the  "White 
City"  by  the  Lake.  It  was  the  Manufactur- 
ers' and  Liberal  Arts  Building  of  the  Colum- 
bian Exposition.  It  had  as  much  acreage  as 
three  or  four  New  England  farms.  I  saw  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  people  seated 
in  one  side  of  it.  Away  at  one  end,  stuck  in 
a  little  gallery,  were  six  thousand  singers  and 
three  groups  of  bands.  Standing  in  the  center 
of  the  building,  we  could  frequently  hear  the 
higher  notes,  but  as  often  we  could  not  catch 
a  sound.  We  knew  the  music  was  being  ren- 
dered by  watching  through  our  glasses  the 

182 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

motions  of  the  players.  It  is  to-day  difficult 
to  comprehend  the  vast  proportions  of  that 
strucj:ure.  Beneath  its  ample  roof  were  gath- 
ered all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Here  the 
English,  and  there  the  Russians,  exhibited 
their  merchandise.  The  Germans,  French, 
Spanish,  Italians,  Scandinavians,  all  the  fam- 
ilies of  Europe,  had  their  departments; 
Turks,  Arabs,  Japanese,  Chinese,  Hindoos, 
Africans,  representatives  from  the  teeming 
families  of  Asia  and  Africa,  presented  their 
curious  products;  Mexico,  the  South  Amer- 
ican Republics,  and  those  from  the  Islands 
of  the  Sea,  were  busy  with  their  merchandise 
and  exhibits.  All  the  families  of  men  were 
gathered  within  those  four  walls.  The  light- 
ing of  it  was  a  modern  problem.  Modern 
genius  ran  wires  and  electric  apparatus  every- 
where over  the  building,  along  the  rafters, 
up  the  bents,  along  the  girders,  about  the  gal- 
leries, over  the  booths,  through  the  aisles, 
everywhere.  It  took  work,  and  time,  and 
money,  and  genius,  and  thought,  to  run  all  the 
wires,  place  all  the  switches,  hang  all  the  arcs, 
swing  all  the  tubes,  plant  all  the  batteries,  and 
make  all  the  complicated  machinery  converge 
upon  one  point  under  one  button.    But  when 

183 


Missionary  Addresses. 

this  wire-running  and  light-placing  was  done, 
the  work  of  illumining  the  building  was  about 
accomplished.  At  the  appointed  time,  in  the 
gathering  darkness,  one  hand  turned  on  the 
current,  and  in  an  instant  the  whole  scene  was 
changed.  Quick  as  thought  light  flashed 
from  roof  and  gallery,  from  brace  and  girder, 
from  booth  and  tower,  along  the  aisles  and 
through  the  passages,  in  the  tents  and  pa- 
vilions, everywhere;  over  the  quarter  of  the 
Briton  and  the  camp  of  the  Russian,  over  the 
resting-place  of  the  Turk  and  of  the  Hindoo, 
over  the  palaces  of  the  German  and  of  the 
French,  everywhere;  over  the  quarters  of  the 
Chinese  and  of  the  Japanese  flashed  this  light, 
like  the  light  of  a  new  sun  risen  in  the  even- 
ing,— and  the  whole  vast  building  was  one 
blaze  of  light.  So  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
Christian  Church,  through  her  missionary 
operations,  has  been  patiently  preparing  the 
way  for  illumining  the  world.  The  stations 
have  been  planted,  churches  built,  schools 
opened,  presses  started,  dictionaries  compiled, 
grammars  braided,  literatures  created,  great 
lines  of  communications  secured;  railroads, 
steamships,  telegraphs,  printing  presses,  Bible 
societies, — everything  seems  to  be  in  readi- 

184 


The  Reflex  Influence  of  Missions. 

ness.  Millions  of  believers  have  a  rich  e?:- 
perience  and  good  theology  and  increasing 
zeal.  Our  high  schools  and  universities  are 
making  ready  a  great  army  competent  to 
teach  the  Word;  fortunes  beyond  the  neces- 
sities of  the  owners  are  being  accumulated  by 
the  hundred  millions;  all  things  now  seem 
ready.  My  faith  is  humbly  and  hopefully 
looking  to  see  the  Holy  Spirit  come  upon  the 
Churches,  and  flash  along  all  these  lines, 
lighting  all  lands.  Already  I  see  the  light 
shining  on  the  summits  of  the  Himalayas,  and 
streaking  over  the  plains  of  China,  and  stream- 
ing over  the  islands  of  Japan.  The  time  is 
not  far  distant  when  a  nation  shall  be  born  in 
a  day,  and  the  whole  earth  shall  be  covered 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the  waters 
cover  the  sea. 

In  yonder  Southern  Hemisphere  on  the 
South  Atlantic  I  have  stood  on  the  deck,  and 
gazed  up  at  the  most  attractive  constellation, 
the  Southern  Cross.  Once  to  see  it  is  always 
to  look  for  it  when  the  night  comes  down. 
On  that  southern  sea  the  sailors  watch  it  with 
unflagging  interest.  In  the  lone  hours  of  the 
night  you  can  sometimes  hear  the  watch  on 
deck  calling  out  to  the  watch  in  the  lookout, 

,85 


Missionary  Addresses. 

"Ho,  watch,  what  of  the  night?"  Then  the 
answer,  "The  morning  is  coming,  for  the 
Cross  begins  to  bend."  So  to-night,  standing 
in  the  lookout,  looking  over  the  dark  lands, 
am  I  asked,  "What  of  the  night?"  I  can  an- 
swer, "The  morning  is  coming,  for  the  Cross 
begins  to  bend." 


1 86 


IV. 

THE  MESSAGE. 

[This  Message  was  written  by  Dr.  Fowler  when  he  was 
Missionary  Secretary.  Dr.  Dorchester  kindly  allowed  the  use  of 
the  statistics  which  were  taken  from  the  manuscript  of  his  book 
on  "The  Problem  of  Religious  Progress."  The  Message  was 
simultaaeuosly  published  in  full  in  each  of  the  great  Methodist 
Church  Ad'vocates.] 

^'Men,  brethren,  and  fathers,  hearken!" 
With  your  hand  on  your  headstone,  your 
eye  on  the  judgment  throne,  and  your  heart 
naked  and  open  to  the  Allseeing  Eye,  answer 
this  question:  What  would  you  take  as  a  re- 
ward or  compensation  for  which  you  would 
be  willing  to  have  the  Bible  annihilated  or 
demonstrated  to  be  false?  The  Christian,  who 
does  not  fear  its  punishments,  can  not  conceive 
of  any  gift  or  treasure  that  could  form  even  a 
motive  for  such  a  loss.  Solid  globes  of  gold, 
vast  as  our  sun  and  countless  as  the  stars  of 
night,  with  all  earthly  dominion  and  honor, 
would  be  as  nothing.     They  are  gone  in  a 

187 


Missionary  Addresses, 

moment.     A  desirable  exchange   is   unthink- 
able. 

Our  message,  then,  is  to  you.  You  have  re- 
ceived something  worth  having  and  worth 
giving.  "Freely  ye  have  received,  freely 
give."  You  have  a  Divine  Redeemer — "a 
full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation 
and  satisfaction"  for  your  sins.  You  have  a 
perfect  salvation  through  faith.  You  know 
that  "the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to 
forgive  sins."  You  have  "tasted"  of  the  good 
word  of  life.  You  know  the  power  of  an  end- 
less life.  To  you  the  Word  of  God  is  of  ab- 
solute authority.  To  you,  in  the  name  of  God, 
by  the  price  of  your  soul,  on  the  authority  of 
this  Word,  comes  the  message, 
spirit  You  must  have  this  mission  spirit.  You 
ojthe^^Q    not    your    own.      You     are    purchased 

Gospel.  ,  1         •   1  1  •  1  • 

With  a  price,  and  with  such  a  price  that  its 
repetition  would  bankrupt  the  eternal  treas- 
ury. You  belong  to  Christ.  You  are  Christ's. 
"Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  blessed  us  with  all 
spiritual  blessings  in  heavenly  places  in 
Christ:  according  as  He  hath  chosen  us  in 
Him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that 
we  should  be  holy  and  without  blame  before 

1 88 


The  Message. 

Him  in  love."  Redeemed  from  sin,  you  are 
brought  into  fellowship  with  Him  who  came 
"to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost." 

Christ  is  in  the  world  on  a  soul-hunt.  He 
is  here  in  a  world  full  of  sinners  as  the  sin- 
ner's Friend  as  well  as  the  saint's  King.  The 
very  purpose  of  His  coming  is  mercy.  "He 
is  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,  keeping 
mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and 
transgression  and  sin."  He  is  here  to  save. 
"For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave 
His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  might  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life.  For  God  sent  not  His  Son 
into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world;  but  that 
the  world  through  Him  might  be  saved." 

He  is  here  to  save  the  world;  for,  "by  the 
grace  of  God,  Jesus  Christ  tasted  death  for" — 
the  Anglo-Saxon  only?  No,  not  that  way. 
Such  an  utterance  would  shock  the  moral  uni- 
verse. Every  moral  intelligence  would  utter 
its  agonizing  protest,  and  be  forced  into  he- 
roic resistance.  ''Tasted  death  for  every 
many  is  the  authoritative  word  that  measures 
the  wideness  there  is  in  God's  love.  "He  is 
the  propitiation  for  our  sins."  That  has  a 
definiteness    and    personal    application    that 

189 


Missionary  Addresses. 

gives  us  the  feeling  of  sonship.  But  the  in- 
stant we  feel  this  throb  of  filial  love,  and  the 
ineffable  word  Father  rises  to  our  lips,  we  are 
borne  out  on  the  rest  of  the  same  breath, — 
^'and  not  for  our  sins  only,  but  for  the  sins 
of  the  ivhole  world."  We  have  come  to  Him 
who  is  "the  Savior  of  all  men,  especially  of 
those  that  believe,"  "who  gave  Himself  a  ran- 
som for  all;^  "for  God  was  in  Christ  recon- 
ciling the  world  unto  Himself."  Surely  this 
strange  Being  from  the  worlds  out  of  sight, 
who  is  called  "Wonderful,  Counselor,  The 
Mighty  God,  The  Everlasting  Father,  The 
Prince  of  Peace,"  and  "Jesus,  because  He 
shall  save  His  people  from  their  sins,"  is  in 
the  world  on  a  mission  of  mercy.  His  pres- 
ence brings  hope.  "Light  breaks  in.  The 
prison  walls  give  way."  He  calls  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth  to  come  and  live. 

It  is  impossible  to  breathe  any  spirit  in  the 
presence  of  such  a  Savior,  except  in  the  widest 
and  most  zealous  spirit  of  missions.  In  His 
presence  we  are  not  surprised  that  Chris- 
tianity seeks  the  lost,  but  we  are  compelled  to 
believe  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  must  have 
the  missionary  spirit.  With  the  Bible  in  your 
hands,   and   its  unbreakable   promises   enkin- 

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The  Message. 

dUng  in  your  bosoms  the  hopes  of  eternal  life, 
you  must  feel  the  great  rule,  "As  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them 
likewise."  "As  we  have  opportunity"  we 
must  "do  good  unto  all  men."  There  is  no 
escape  from  the  supreme  law,  "Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind.  And 
thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  May 
the  Holy  Spirit  bear  in  upon  every  conscience 
the  abiding  conviction  that  there  can  be  no  in- 
telligent New  Testament  Christianity  ivithout 
missions/ 

Soldiers  of  the  Cross,  hear  the  final  com- 
mand from  the  Captain  of  your  salvation: 
^^All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and 
in  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  na- 
tions, baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you:  and,  lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world."  These  are  omnipotent  words :  "Go," 
"preach,"  "teach,"  "baptize."  And  "the  field 
is  the  world,"  "all  nations,"  "every  creature." 

This  work  has  all  the  intensity  of  a  death 
struggle.     Every  force  within  the   reach  of 

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Missionary  Addresses. 

Omnipotence  is  marshaled  and  marched  to 
the  front.  Every  motive  which  Infinite  Wis- 
dom could  mold  or  fashion  is  poured  red-hot 
upon  the  conscience.  Every  argument  that 
Infinite  Skill  could  draw  from  three  worlds 
is  laid  upon  the  judgment.  Every  term  that 
could  threaten  or  intimidate  is  set  on  men- 
acing. Every  figure  of  speech  that  could  per- 
suade or  allure  is  exhausted  in  beckoning  and 
persuading.  Every  cavern  in  the  regions  of 
the  lost  sighs  and  moans  in  the  very  face  of 
refusal.  Heaven  herself  throws  open  her 
gates  of  pearl,  and  exhibits  to  mortal  gaze  her 
streets  of  gold,  her  palaces  of  fire,  and  her 
thrones  of  light.  Last  of  all,  the  Master  Him- 
self breaks  out  of  the  unspeakable  glory  into 
our  very  presence,  and  before  our  very  eyes 
embraces  our  cross,  that  He  may  persuade  us. 
In  the  very  intensity  of  this  dying.  He  cries: 
Go  preach,  teach,  everywhere.  In  such  a 
presence  we  are  not  surprised  to  hear  Him  say 
to  the  Father,  "As  Thou  hast  sent  Me  into  the 
world,  even  so  have  I  also  sent  them  into  the 
world;"  nor  to  hear  His  command  to  us,  "As 
the  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  I  send  you." 
"Go." 

With  your  churches  and  schools,  with  your 
192 


The  Message. 

Bibles  and  homes,  what  can  you  think  of  the 
great  lands,  brimful  of  immortals  bowed 
down  under  a  load  of  sins  and  superstitions, 
worshiping  stones  and  sticks  that  give  no  com- 
fort; strangers  to  pardon  and  purity  and 
peace?  Do  not  the  words,  "As  ye  would," 
ring  the  alarm-bell  in  the  camp  of  your  fears? 
Does  not  the  Divine  "Go"  strike  down  upon 
your  conscience  like  a  trip-hammer? 

In  the  midst  of  this  agonizing  haste  of  sav- 
ing mercy,  it  is  the  one  commission  of  most 
exalted  honor  and  of  most  grave  responsibility 
that  the  ministry  of  reconciliation  is  commit- 
ted unto  us.  "All  things  are  of  God,  who 
hath  reconciled  us  to  Himself  by  Jesus  Christ, 
and  hath  given  to  us  the  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation; to  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ, 
reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself,  not  im- 
puting their  trespasses  unto  them;  and  hath 
committed  unto  us  the  word  of  reconciliation. 
Now,  then,  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as 
though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us;  we  pray 
you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to 
God." 

Under  the  weight  of  such  a  work  it  is  no 
mar\^el  that  Dr.  Fuller,  less  than  a  century 
ago,  when  repulsed  in  his  begging  from  door 

13  193 


Missionary  Addresses. 

to  door  for  the  money  with  which  to  send 
Carey  to  the  heathen,  should  retire  to  weep 
and  pray;  as  he  says,  "I  frequently  retired 
from  the  more  public  streets  to  the  back  lanes, 
that  I  might  not  be  seen  to  weep  over  my  dis- 
appointments." The  only  marvel  is  that  so 
few  of  Christ's  followers  have  the  same  zeal. 
Dr.  Durbin  tells  us  of  a  Moravian  mother 
who  understood  Christ's  call  for  workers  in 
the  world's  harvest:  "A  friend  in  much  sad- 
ness said  to  her,  'Your  son  is  gone.'  'Is 
Thomas  gone  to  heaven  through  the  mission- 
ary life?  Would  to  God  that  he  would  call 
my  son  John!'  John  went,  and  died.  The 
committee  were  sad,  but  the  old  lady  antici- 
pated them,  and  exclaimed,  'Would  that  He 
would  call  my  last  son,  William!'  William 
went,  and  fell.  Then  she  exclaimed,  'Would 
that  I  had  a  thousand  sons  to  give  to  God!'  " 
How  much  are  you  giving  for  this  work  of 
reconciling  the  world  to  God? 
Christ  All  need  Christ.  God  gave  Him  for  the 
Necessary.  ^^^Ij^  He  "tastcd  death  for  every  man/' 
He  is  the  supreme  need  of  every  mortal.  This 
is  a  field  where  human  knowledge  and  specu- 
lations are  of  little  value  and  of  no  authority. 
What  God  declares  we  can  trust.     Beyond 

194 


The  Message. 

that,  nothing  is  certain.  It  Is  not  necessary  for 
us  to  judge  the  heathen.  It  is  safe  for  us  to 
expect  that  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do 
right;  for  "God  is  no  respecter  of  persons; 
but  in  every  nation,  he  that  feareth  Him  and 
worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  with  Him." 
A  few  general  principles  are  evidently  in- 
volved in  the  word:  i.  The  heathen  will  not 
be  judged  by  our  light.  2.  They  will  be 
judged  by  their  own  light.  3.  Those  who  live 
as  nearly  up  to  the  light  they  have,  as  a  saved 
Christian  lives  up  to  the  light  he  has,  will  be 
saved.  4.  No  two  mortals  have  the  same 
amount  of  light.  5.  Exposure  to  being  lost 
is  not  a  question  of  the  amount  of  light,  but  of 
the  fact  of  light.  In  the  presence  of  these 
simple  and  generally  accepted  truths  the  con- 
dition of  the  heathen  becomes  alarming  when 
it  is  remembered  that  there  is  a  "Light  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world."  And  "the  invisible  things  of  Him 
from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly 
seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are 
made,  even  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead;" 
so  that  they  are  without  excuse.  They  "are 
a  law  unto  themselves:  Which  show  the  work 
of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  their  con- 

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Missionary  Addresses 

science  also  bearing  witness,  and  their 
thoughts,  the  meanwhile  accusing,  or  else  ex- 
cusing one  another."  This  prepares  us  to  ac- 
cept the  statement  which  these  declarations 
are  made  to  support;  namely,  "As  many  as 
have  sinned  without  law,  shall  also  perish 
without  law." 

The  actual  question.  It  ceases  to  be  a  ques- 
tion whether  any  of  the  heathen  will  be  saved, 
or  whether  any  of  them  will  be  lost.  It  now 
stands  as  a  calculation  of  chances  as  to  what 
means  shall  be  used  for  saving  the  greatest 
number.  A  man  might  cross  the  Atlantic  in 
a  skifif.  Doubtless  a  few  did  in  past  ages  thus 
drift  to  these  shores.  But  it  is  immeasurably 
better  to  take  passage  on  a  Cunard  steamer. 
For  our  own  children  we  choose  moral  and 
religious  surroundings.  We  keep  about  them 
a  religious  atmosphere.  We  reduce  the  evil 
influences  as  much  as  possible.  Thus  we  in- 
crease the  probabilities  of  their  maturing  into 
Christian  men  and  women.  This  law  holds 
over  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam: 
The  proportion  of  the  saved  will  keep  quite 
even  step  with  the  amount  of  light  shed  forth. 
In  the  presence  of  this  great  law  read  Paul's 
description  in  the  first  chapter  of   Romans, 

196 


The  Message. 

and  see  how  the  odds  are  multiplied  against 
these  that  sit  in  darkness:  "Being  filled  with 
all  unrighteousness,  fornication,  wickedness, 
covetousness,  maliciousness;  full  of  envy,  mur- 
der, debate,  deceit,  malignity;  whisperers, 
backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful,  proud, 
boasters,  inventors  of  evil  things,  disobedient 
to  parents,  without  understanding,  covenant- 
breakers,  without  natural  affection,  implac- 
able, unmerciful;  who,  knowing  the  judgment 
of  God,  that  they  which  commit  such  things 
are  worthy  of  death,  not  only  do  the  same, 
but  have  pleasure  in  them  that  do  them."  It 
is  hard  to  conceive  how  the  odds  could  be 
more  against  them.  You  would  not  throw 
your  prattling  baby  boy  into  such  a  gang  of 
hungry  wolves  and  say,  "He  is  as  safe  there 
as  he  would  be  in  my  arms,  or  kneeling  at  my 
family  altar." 

No  thoughtful  man  argues  that  it  is  better 
not  to  give  the  heathen  the  gospel  because  it 
would  increase  their  responsibility;  for  that 
argument  is  equally  against  any  gospel  for 
any  body.  Nor  does  he  say,  with  Dr.  Ryland, 
in  the  meeting  of  Baptist  ministers  in  North- 
ampton, England,  in  1788,  when  the  mission- 
ary spirit  of  modern  times  burst  forth  in  the 

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Missionary  Addresses 

soul  of  William  Carey:  "Young  man,  sit 
down.  When  God  pleases  to  convert  the 
heathen  He  will  do  it  without  your  aid  or 
mine;"  for  such  a  statement  would  apply 
equally  to  His  saving  our  children  and  our 
neighbors.  No,  the  per  cent  of  the  saved 
keeps  quite  even  step  with  the  amount  of  light 
shed  forth. 

No  wonder  our  crucified,  risen,  and  ascend- 
ing Lord  cried  out:  "Go,  preach,  teach  every 
creature,  and  I  will  be  with  you,  with  all 
power,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

The  state  of  the  heathen  shows  their  need 
of  the  gospel.  Their  languages  are  rich  in 
words  and  terms  of  crime.  Some  languages 
contain  as  many  as  twelve  words  expressing 
the  way  in  which  one  may  kill  his  father, 
while  there  is  no  word  for  mercy.  They  are 
living  in  "the  habitations  of  cruelty." 

Dr.  Cunnyngham  gives  the  following  inci- 
dents: "A  few  years  ago  the  British  consul 
in  Ashantee  wrote :  'The  king's  mother  is  dead, 
and  three  thousand  victims  were  sacrified  at 
her  burial.  Two  thousand  of  these  were  pris- 
oners of  war,  and  one  thousand  were  natives. 
They  were  sacrificed  with  most  revolting 
rites.'     The   King  of  Dahomey  'slaughtered 

198 


The  Message. 

six  thousand  captives  in  order  to  ornament  the 
wall  around  his  palace  with  their  heads.'  A 
missionary  relates  the  following  as  an  example 
of  caprice  common  in  certain  districts  in  Af- 
rica: 'At  a  feast,  a  little  son  of  the  king  asked 
that  a  certain  fleshy  man,  whom  he  pointed 
out,  should  be  cut  into  a  hundred  pieces.  The 
man  was  seized,  by  order  of  the  king,  and  his 
body  cut  up  to  amuse  the  child.'  Again:  'The 
son  of  a  king  died  in  a  drunken  debauch;  at 
his  funeral  thirty  young  women,  fifty  men, 
and  twenty  slaves  were  buried  alive,  that  their 
spirits  might  attend  him  in  another  world.'  " 
("Thoughts  on  Missions,"  p.   129.) 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Whitehead,  for  ten  years  a 
missionary  in  South  China,  in  an  address  at  the 
May  anniversary  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  said :  "In  China  you  find  heath- 
enism of  the  most  ancient,  the  most  gigantic, 
and  the  most  impious  type." 

Again  he  said:  "It  would  almost  seem  as  if 
God  had  isolated  the  Chinese  Empire  from 
the  rest  of  the  race  just  to  see  whether  human 
nature  has  in  it  any  recuperative  power; 
whether  man  left  to  himself  apart  from  God 
can  devise  any  system — social,  political,  or 
moral — that  shall  be  sufficient  to  depose  vice, 

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Missionary  Addresses 

to  exalt  virtue,  and  to  promote  happiness;  and, 
certainly,  they  have  not  been  wanting  in  ex- 
pedients. They  have  had  their  great  national 
systems  in  full  operation,  two  of  them  for 
twenty-five  centuries,  and  the  other  for  twenty, 
— Confucianism,  Taoism,  and  Buddhism. 
These  three  systems  form  the  three  angles  of 
a  triangle, — the  moral,  the  metaphysical,  and 
the  immortal.  They  appeal  to  the  three  great 
functions  of  the  human  soul, — the  will,  the 
sensibility,  and  the  intellect;  and  they  unite 
in  ignoring  God.  They  have  had  ample  fa- 
cility for  development  of  any  possible  poten- 
tiality they  may  possess  for  alleviating  the 
people.  They  have  had  a  wide  field,  length 
of  days,  freedom  from  outside  interference. 
They  have  basked  in  the  smiles  of  government, 
and  have  enjoyed  wealth  and  patronage;  and 
what  is  the  result?  It  is  an  Empire  more 
corrupt  and  degraded  than  has  ever  been 
found.  Notwithstanding  any  elements  for 
good  they  may  have  in  them,  and  any  influ- 
ence for  good  they  may  have  exerted,  the 
nation  has  gone  down  under  their  aegis  into 
deeper  darkness  and  fouler  immorality.  This, 
surely,  should  be  considered  one  of  the  most 
convincing    proofs    that    man-made    systems, 

200 


The  Message. 

however  plausible,  will  never  succeed  in  re- 
generating human  nature  and  raising  the 
race." 

Surely  what  we  need,  they  must  also  need. 
If  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  be  born  again, 
surely  they  must  be  born  again.  We  are 
afraid  to  look  at  this  mighty  procession 
marching  by  in  solid  columns,  centuries  long, 
filled  with  more  than  half  the  human  race, 
steeped  in  corruption,  knowing  nothing  of 
peace  and  purity,  plunging  on  in  the  dark- 
ness. 

There  are  those  who  still  remember  the 
burdened  and  burning  words  of  Dr.  Olin,  as 
he  gazed  on  this  procession:  "They  perish, 
sir,  they  perish."  Turn  and  read  his  ever- 
memorable  words  in  his  great  address  deliv- 
ered at  the  Greene  Street  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  New  York,  on  the  twenty-fourth  an- 
niversary of  the  Missionary  Society: 

"But,  sir,  strongly  disposed  as  I  am,  in  ad- 
dressing an  audience  of  Christian  men,  to 
make  my  sole  appeal  to  great  first  principles, 
I  should  yet  hesitate,  but  for  my  solemn  con- 
viction that  the  sentiment  is  only  half  believed 
by  the  Church.  I  should  hesitate,  sir,  to  as- 
sign as  my  chief  argument  this  stale  theolog- 

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Missionary  Addresses. 

ical  truism,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Church 
to  evangelize  the  world,  because  that  is  the 
only  way  of  saving  the  world.  I  say,  sir,  it 
is  my  profoundest  conviction  that  the  Church 
does  not  really  believe  this  tremendous  truth. 
It  believes  that  the  gospel  is  an  unspeakable 
blessing;  that  it  is  an  excellent  remedy  for 
sin;  that  it  is  God's  chosen  and  cherished  way 
of  lifting  up  our  fallen  race,  and  bringing 
many  sons  and  daughters  into  glory;  but  that 
Christ's  is  Uhe  only  name  given  under  heaven 
whereby  men  can  be  saved/  that  ^whosoever 
believeth  not,  shall  be  damned/  that  *idol- 
aters  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,' — 
these  are  declarations  which,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  the  Church  is  wont  to  receive  with  many 
grains  of  allowance,  and  with  a  most  critical 
and  imploring  look  to  the  context  in  quest 
of  whatever  alleviations  may  be  found  in  the 
shape  of  figurative  language  or  restraining 
clause.  ...  In  their  convulsive  attempts 
to  get  away  from  the  torturing  conclusion  to 
which  the  plain  testimonies  of  God's  Word 
must  clearly  shut  them  up,  men  forget  that 
the  most  grievous  sin  of  idolatry  is  idolatry 
itself;  that  this  is  the  prolific,  polluted  source 
of  the  abominations  and  defilements  which  the 

202 


The  Message. 

blood  of  Christ  was  shed  to  wash  away,  and 
that  heaven  is  not  shut  against  the  unregener- 
ate  so  much  because  they  are  guilty  as  because 
they  are  unholy. 

"Sir,  did  the  Church  really  believe  the  gos- 
pel to  be  as  necessary  to  the  heathen  as  it  is 
to  us,  there  would  be,  at  once  and  forever,  an 
end  to  her  guilty  repose. 

"They  who  give  full  credit  to  such  truths 
do  not  sleep  over  them.  It  would  be  easier 
to  find  rest  in  our  beds  above  the  throes  of  an 
earthquake.  The  agonies  of  Laocoon  and  his 
children,  dying  in  the  coils  of  the  serpent, 
were  but  pastime  compared  with  those  of  the 
Church,  until  she  had  either  unlocked  herself 
from  the  grapple  of  this  tremendous  convic- 
tion, or  disburdened  her  conscience  by  a  faith- 
ful consecration  of  her  energies  to  the  work 
of  rescuing  the  world  from  its  doom. 

"And  yet  it  is  true,  if  the  Bible  is  true,  that 
while  we  dwell  in  peace,  under  our  own  vine 
and  fig-tree,  lifting  up  our  songs  of  praise  in 
the  full  city,  and  making  vocal  the  green  hills 
and  valleys  of  our  Christian  land  with  the 
echoes  of  joyous  thanksgivings  to  Him  who 
hath  redeemed  us,  bidding  away  the  sorrows 
of  life,  and  defying  the  terrors  of  death  by  a 

203 


Missionary  Addresses. 

sure  trust  in  Christ,  and  bright,  full-hearted 
anticipations  of  heaven, — it  is  true,  sir,  that 
the  myriads  of  unevangelized  men  are  passing 
into  eternity  without  a  ray  of  saving  light. 
They  perish,  sir,  they  perish.  They  live  with- 
out hope,  and  die  without  a  Savior;  and  we, 
who  are,  for  the  good  of  the  world,  intrusted 
by  Christ  with  the  deposit  and  monopoly  of 
His  grace,  withhold  the  only  antidote  for  sin, 
and  thus  become,  in  no  figurative  sense,  acces- 
sories to  their  guilt  and  woe." 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  Jesus  commands  us 
to  go?  Is  it  strange  that  Paul  ran  over  every 
known  continent,  and  was  willing  to  be 
scourged  through  every  known  metropolis, 
saying,  'T  am  made  all  things  to  all  men,  that 
I  might  by  all  means  save  some!" 

The  salvation  of  this  world  now  awaits  our 
action.  What  plans  God  might  have  chosen 
it  is  neither  possible  nor  important  for  us  to 
know.  It  is  enough  for  us  that  He  has  com- 
pleted His  part  of  the  work.  On  the  cross 
He  cried,  ''It  is  finished;"  on  the  Mount  of 
Ascension  He  gave  the  supreme  command, 
and  on  Pentecost  He  gave  the  induement  of 
power. 

The  work  is  committed  to  us.  We  are  taken 
204 


The  Message. 

into  co-partnership  with  Him.  We  are  la- 
borers together  with  God.  He  has  done  all 
He  can  in  His  vineyard.  Christ  has  died  and 
is  risen,  and  has  poured  forth  the  Spirit.  The 
Bible  is  complete;  the  Church  has  the  doc- 
trines and  experience  of  the  New  Testament. 
Now  God  says:  ''Go,  and  I  will  bring  you  off 
more  than  conquerors.  Nothing  shall  by  any 
means  harm  you."  The  universal  reign  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace  awaits  our  action.  In  nature 
He  gives  us  possibilities,  and  requires  us  to 
work  them  up  into  actualities.  He  gives  us 
germs,  and  expects  us  to  secure  the  harvests. 
So  in  grace  He  has  given  us  a  Savior  who  died 
once  for  all,  and  He  commands  us  to  tell  the 
good  news  to  every  creature. 

Our  business  is  TO  TELL  the  good  news  our 
to  every  creature.     That  is  our  part  of  the  ^"^'''"•'' 

.,  ..         and 

work;  Gods  Spirit  will  see  to  the  conviction  .<//j,,.^^ 
of  men  by  the  truth,  by  the  word  of  our  tQ%t\- Heathen'' 
mony,  and  the  heathen  must  take  the  respon- 
sibility of  accepting  or  rejecting  it.  It  is  not 
for  us  to  wait  till  each  one  to  whom  we  tell 
the  story  repents  and  believes  before  we  tell 
it  to  another.  It  is  not  a  reaping-machine 
that  must  cut  every  stalk  as  it  comes  before  it 
reaches  another.  It  is  like  the  blessed  sunlight, 

205 


Missionary  Addresses. 

that  drops  upon  all  germs,  giving  all  a  chance 
to  quicken.  It  is  a  government  over  agents. 
It  only  furnishes  opportunities,  opens  doors. 
The  agents  themselves  determine  whether  or 
not  to  enter  in  and  be  saved. 

The  disciples  did  not  sit  in  Jerusalem  till 
every  inhabitant  had  been  converted  and 
joined  the  Church  before  they  went  elsewhere. 
Paul  did  not  stay  in  Asia  till  all  her  millions 
had  been  saved  before  he  went  into  Europe. 
He  preached  in  the  chief  cities  till,  in  a  very 
general  way,  it  could  be  said  that  all  Asia 
had  heard  the  truth;  then  God  called  him  into 
Europe,  to  help  the  heathen  there. 

Some  men  are  to-day  misled  by  the  idea  of 
saving  everybody  at  home  before  they  teach 
those  in  the  outer  darkness.  They  think  they 
must  save  the  heathen  around  them.  They 
forget  that  there  are  no  heathen  in  this  coun- 
try, nor  in  Christian  lands,  except  the  few 
who  are  imported  from  heathen  lands.  It  is 
not  a  question  of  piety,  or  of  virtue,  or  of 
faith.  It  is  only  a  question  of  knowledge,  a 
question  of  light.  These  unsaved  ones  about 
us  are  bad  enough.  They  are  going  to  death, 
but  they  know  better.  They  go  to  death  be- 
cause they  will.    They  grow  up  with  our  Sun- 

206 


The  Message 

day-school  children.  They  constantly  see  our 
churches.  They  suspend  their  labor  one  day 
in  seven  in  honor  of  the  Christian  Sabbath. 
They  are  not  heathen.    They  know  better. 

Comparative  cost  at  home  and  abroad.  YtCost. 
costs  less  for  given  results  abroad  in  heathen 
lands  than  in  the  home  Churches.  It  costs 
more  than  three  times  as  much  to  secure  a 
given  number  of  conversions  in  the  home 
fields  as  it  does  in  the  foreign.  Study  the  logic 
of  events.  The  Baptist  Mission  Union,  in 
1873,  expended  $239,417.  The  same  year  the 
Baptist  Association  of  Long  Island  expended 
$236,000 — almost  the  same  sum.  But  the 
number  of  converts  in  the  foreign  field  was 
eight  times  as  great  as  in  the  home  field.  Con- 
verts in  the  Baptist  Association  of  Southern 
New  York  that  same  year  cost  ten  times  as 
much  as  in  the  foreign  field.  In  the  Baptist 
Association  of  Black  River,  with  no  great 
cities  and  no  great  salaries,  converts  cost  five 
times  as  much  as  in  their  foreign  fields. 

The  Congregational  Churches  of  Massa- 
chusetts, from  1840  to  1866,  had  an  average 
annual  net  increase  of  five  to  each  Church  and 
five  and  a  half  to  each  pastor.  Their  foreign 
work  in  the  same  twenty-six  years  had  an  aver- 

207 


Missionary  Addresses. 

age  annual  net  increase  of  twenty  to  each 
Church  and  of  fourteen  and  a  half  to  each 
pastor. 

The  Presbyterian  Church,  from  1825  to 
1875,  kept  the  advance  in  the  number  of  her 
missionaries  about  even  with  the  advance  in 
the  number  of  her  ministers  at  home.  But 
the  net  increase  of  members  was,  in  the  for- 
eign field  compared  with  the  home,  as  three 
and  a  half  to  one. 

Relatively  missions  do  not  cost  much.  Eng- 
land is  the  great  missionary  nation.  She  gives 
about  $6,000,000  per  year  to  foreign  missions. 
She  wastes  on  rum  $750,000,000;  and  her  an- 
nual income,  as  the  Lord  Mayor  told  us  re- 
cently in  the  great  Exeter  Hall  Missionary 
anniversary,  is  from  $50,000,000,000  to  $60,- 
000,000,000.  Foreign  missions  cost  her  only 
one  thousandth  of  one  per  cent  of  her  income. 
The  United  States  waste  on  liquor  $600,000,- 
000  a  year.  We  all  give  to  foreign  missions 
less  than  $3,000,000  a  year, — one-half  of  one 
per  cent. 

Cost  of  maintaining  the  Missionary  Society. 
It  is  sometimes  said  that  it  takes  a  dollar  to 
carry  ten  cents  to  the  heathen.  But  the  facts 
are,   that  in   the   Missionary  Society  of   the 

208 


The  Message. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  every  dollar 
given  for  missions,  a  little  more  than  ninety- 
nine  cents  goes  to  the  mission-fields. 

The  cost  of  collecting  and  disbursing  all  her 
funds  draws  upon  the  collections  less  than  one 
per  cent.    This  is  made  possible  by  two  facts: 

1.  We  have  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  Meth- 
odist preachers  who  collect  this  money  for 
nothing,  and  for  this  privilege  give,  as  a  rule, 
in  proportion  to  their  ability,  five  times  as 
much  as  the  principal  laymen  in  their  charges. 

2.  The  whole  expense  is  about  two  and  a  half 
per  cent;  but  two-thirds  of  this  is  paid  by  the 
rent  of  the  building  on  the  corner  of  Eleventh 
Street  and  Broadway,  which  was  not  given  as 
a  missionary  donation,  nor  for  the  support  of 
missions. 

//  pays  in  dollars  and  cents.  The  Sandwich 
Islands  still  illustrate  this  statement.  It  cost 
$1,220,000  to  Christianize  the  Sandwich  Isl- 
ands. But  now  we  receive  back  every  year 
about  $5,000,000  in  commerce. 

An  immigrant  is  worth  to  this  country  the 
same  as  the  introduction  of  $800  in  capital. 
A  single  missionary  in  the  South  Sea  Islands 
is  worth  to  the  commerce  of  England  about 
$10,000  per  year.  God  is  urging  us  by  every 
14  209 


Missionary  Addresses. 

encouragement  and  inducement  to  do  our  ut- 
most in  this  cause  to  which  He  gave  His  Son. 
Under  this  pressure  of  Divine  command  be- 
hind us,  and  of  the  providential  inducement 
before  us,  with  every  field  open  and  calling, 
we  can  not  but  ask.  Are  we  doing  our  best, 
or  as  nearly  our  best  as  can  be  reasonably  ex- 
pected of  us? 
Our  Field  The  Call  of  the  General  Committee  has 
,  ^'"^^'' heretofore    exceeded     the     response    of    the 

than  Our  ^ 

Avail- Church.  It  has  given  us  a  deficiency  in  our 
ability,  treasury.  We  are  alarmed  at  the  widening 
discrepancy  between  what  the  General  Com- 
mittee have  asked  and  what  they  have  re- 
ceived. This  gulf  must  not  become  impass- 
able. 

It  is  not  all  bad  to  encounter  a  deficiency. 
It  is  worth  something  to  have  the  Church 
richer  in  faith  than  in  money.  It  would  argue 
great  lack  of  confidence  for  the  Church  to 
confine  her  plans  to  money  actually  in  hand. 
She  would  be  more  like  a  pawnbroker,  who 
will  advance  only  a  small  per  cent  of  actual 
value,  than  like  a  confident  child  who  has  the 
paternal  assurance  that  it  shall  be  unto  him 
according  to  his  faith.  Thus,  while  the  Gen- 
eral Committee  faced  this  deficiency,  they  also 

210 


The  Message. 

heard  the  call  from  every  field  for  advance 
movements. 

The  General  Committee,  at  its  last  session, 
spent  days  in  prayerful  and  anxious  study, 
seeking  to  determine  which  of  the  pressing 
needs  of  our  missionary  fields  to  postpone,  and 
how  to  make  the  limited  available  means  do 
the  most  possible. 

In  every  heathen  field  many  unentered 
doors  are  open,  and  from  every  one  comes  the 
cry  for  help.  Populous  cities,  where  the  gos- 
pel is  never  preached,  are  inviting  our  mis- 
sionaries to  send  them  some  one  to  teach  them 
the  way  of  life. 

The  nations  of  Europe,  whose  immigrants 
are  coming  to  fill  our  Western  States  and  Ter- 
ritories, are  crowding  the  places  of  worship 
which  we  open  in  those  old  lands  with  their 
poor  and  soul-hungry  multitudes,  and  our 
superintendents  are  begging  for  a  little  more 
money  with  which  to  push  their  work. 

The  South  is  now  open.  Methodism,  with 
a  gospel  for  the  poor  man,  white  or  black,  can 
go  anywhere  with  her  Northern  ideas  and 
New  Testament  experience.  The  West,  fill- 
ing up  with  youth  and  enterprise  from  the 
East,  is  annually  building  towns  by  the  hun- 

21  I 


Missionary  Addresses. 

dred,  while  hundreds  of  thousands  of  settlers 
are  seeking  homes  and  planting  the  great 
States  of  the  near  future. 

In  these  vast  and  open  fields  our  brethren 
are  working  on  the  merest  pittance,  and  per- 
petuating the  heroic  age  of  Methodism. 
From  information  gathered  in  our  office  from 
these  home  fields,  we  believe  that  a  thousand 
additional  workers,  preachers,  teachers,  and 
Bible-readers  could  be  advantageously  used  in 
these  fields,  in  places  where  they  are  greatly 
needed,  where  the  people  would  now  do  some- 
thing for  themselves,  and  where  we  might 
soon  have  self-supporting  societies,  if  we  only 
had  $150,000  more  to  expend  in  this  part  of 
our  work. 

Looking  at  the  work,  even  the  most  timid 
would  give  the  order  to  advance.  And  look- 
ing the  other  way,  at  our  contributions,  one  is 
constrained  to  repeat  the  order.  We  have 
room  before  us.  We  have  not  yet  exhausted 
our  resources.  In  view  of  the  great  demand, 
it  gives  us  hope  that  we  have  not  yet  exhausted 
our  resources.    We  have  vast  reserve  power. 

The  following  table,  condensed  from  the 
most  valuable  work  of  Dr.  Dorchester,  "The 
Problem  of  Religious  Progress,"  the  advanced 

212 


The  Message. 

sheets  of  which  we  have  been  permitted  to 
study,  is  suggestive.  We  still  have  room  for 
improvement.  Much  as  we  are  doing,  these 
figures  demonstrate  that  we  may  safely  press 
toward  the  front. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  showing 
of  benevolence  per  member  for  each  year  is 
above  the  fact.  The  average  yearly  contribu- 
tion is  divided,  not  by  the  average  member- 
ship of  the  decade,  but  by  the  membership  of 
the  first  year  of  the  decade ;  so  that  the  average 
is  more  than  it  ought  to  be.  But  this  work  is 
no  injustice  to  any  denomination  in  compari- 
son with  others,  as  all  are  treated  alike.  Thus 
we  are  credited  with  fifty  cents  per  member, 
when  our  actual  average  for  1880  is  less  than 
thirty- two  cents. 

We  are  not  as  wealthy  as  some  of  the  older 
denominations.  But  we  are  far  wealthier 
than  our  Methodist  Episcopal  brethren  in 
Canada  or  the  English  Wesleyans,  who  give 
twelve  times  as  much  for  foreign  missions  as 
we  do,  and  nearly  five  times  as  much  for  for- 
eign missions  as  we  give  for  every  benevo- 
lence. 

Our  Hindu  brethren,  recently  converted 
from  heathenism,  receive  from  $2  to  $4  per 

213 


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The  Message. 

month.  Out  of  this  they  board  themselves 
and  support  their  families.  Yet  from  their 
hungry  poverty  they  give,  not  including  what 
the  ministers  give,  to  missions,  to  carry  the 
gospel  to  other  heathen,  an  average  of  thirty 
cents  apiece.  We  give  from  our  great  sal- 
aries and  our  great  fortunes  and  great  farms, 
from  our  great  rich  Church,  thirty-one  cents 
each.  Surely  w^e  have  not  reached  the  limit 
of  our  ability.  There  is  great  hope  in  our 
reserve  power.  All  we  need  is  the  breath  of 
God  to  make  this  Church  of*ours  march  into 
the  darkness  of  Paganism,  and,  like  the  angels, 
illumine  the  darkness  with  its  very  presence. 
Let  us  pray  for  this  breath.  Hitherto  we 
have  asked  nothing.  Let  us  ask  according  to 
the  demands  of  the  work,  and  according  to 
the  power  of  our  God.  Let  our  Methodism 
give  a  million  dollars  a  year. 

The  success  of  modern  missions  is  the  mar-  Success, 
vel  of  history.  We  occasionally  hear  com- 
plaints about  the  vast  outlay  and  small  re- 
turns, just  as  we  hear  men  talking  about  the 
decline  of  Christianity.  These  complaints  are 
born  either  of  ignorance  or  of  an  evil  desire. 
The  growth  of  the  missions  of  this  century 
surpasses    all    other    ages    of    the    Christian 

215 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Church.  Indeed  this  century  is  pre-eminently 
the  missionary  century.  It  rises  out  of  gross 
darkness.  The  generation  preceding  the  re- 
vival of  this  spirit  was  noted  for  skepticism, 
formalism,  and  immorality.  Protestantism 
had  apparently  passed  into  a  rapid  decline. 
Hume,  Gibbon,  Paine,  and  Voltaire  were 
more  sought  and  read  than  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  and  John.  In  a  short  period,  scarcely 
more  than  a  decade  long,  five  million  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred volumes  of  the  works  of  Voltaire  and  of 
other  infidels  were  sold  on  the  Continent, 
while  less  than  five  million  copies  of  the  Bible 
had  been  produced  in  all  languages  for  all  the 
centuries.  But  as  soon  as  the  Church  began 
to  do  the  saving  work,  and  thus  demonstrated 
the  Savior's  presence  in  the  world,  a  new 
spirit  gave  her  new  life,  and  she  has  gone 
straight  on  from  conquering  to  conquest,  till 
the  present  is  the  brightest  hour  in  the  world's 
history. 

In  1800  there  were  only  seven  Protestant 
Foreign  Missionary  Societies;  in  1880  there 
are  seventy,  besides  sixteen  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Societies.  Then  there  were  only 
one  hundred  and  seventy  ordained  mission- 

216 


The  Message. 

aries;  now  there  are  abQut  seven  thousand 
ordained  ministers  in  mission-fields,  who  are 
directing  the  labors  of  forty-five  thousand 
helpers,  lay  and  clerical,  in  twenty  thousand 
stations  and  sub-stations.  In  1800  there  were 
about  fifty  thousand  converts  and  adherents; 
now  there  are  over  one  million  converts,  with 
about  three  million  five  hundred  thousand 
adherents.  In  1878  there  came  into  the  Prot- 
estant Mission  Churches,  in  that  single  year, 
sixty  thousand  converts.  In  1800  there  were 
seventy  schools ;  now  there  are  twelve  thou- 
sand, with  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
pupils.  In  1800  all  Protestantism  gave  for 
foreign  missions  less  than  $250,000;  in  1879 
she  gave  over  $8,000,000. 

In  1878  Dr.  Legge,  long  a  missionary  in 
China,  said:  "Suppose  the  number  of  converts 
in  China  to  increase  for  the  next  thirty-five 
years  as  it  has  in  the  last  thirty-five  years, — 
then,  in  1913,  we  shall  have  in  China  alone 
twenty-six  million  communicants  and  one 
hundred  million  professedly  Christian  peo- 
ple." 

Take  down  the  map  of  the  world,  and  trace 
in  light  the  regions  that  have  been  captured 
for  Christ  since  1850,  and  you  will  find  these 

217 


Missionary  Addresses. 

modern  additions  more  than  had  been  gained 
in  the  five  hundred  years  preceding. 

Follow  the  path  of  the  Bible,  and  you  will 
find  a  path  that  grows  brighter  and  brighter, 
and  is  rapidly  approaching  the  perfect  day. 
In  the  beginning  of  this  century  there  were 
but  fifty  languages  into  which  the  Bible  had 
made  its  way  in  three  thousand  three  hundred 
years.  Since  1800  it  has  created  seventy  lan- 
guages to  carry  its  inspiration,  and  has  en- 
riched, in  all,  nearly  three  hundred,  with  one 
hundred  and  fifty  million  copies. 

Launch  your  timid  craft  in  the  stream  of 
modern  missionary  benevolence.  It  is  like 
the  stream  which  the  prophet  saw  flowing 
out  from  under  the  altar.  It  is  not  yet  up  to 
a  man's  loins,  but  it  is  much  more  than  ankle 
deep.  And  it  sweeps  on  with  such  a  mighty 
current  that  nothing  can  resist  it.  The  aggre- 
gate of  moneys  raised  in  the  United  States  for 
foreign  and  home  missions,  told  in  decades, 
shows  the  stately  presence  of  the  King: 

From  1810-20  $206,210 

From  1820-30  979,544 

From  1830-40  5,133,855 

From  1840-50  7,925,370 

From  1850-60  16,167,822 

From  1860-70  33,509,494 

From  1870-80  48,661,681 

218 


The  Message. 

One  can  hardly  study  these  figures  and  be- 
lieve that  the  spirit  of  missions  is  dying  out. 
From  1840  to  i860  the  contributions  were  two 
and  a  half  times  greater  than  all  that  preceded 
them  from  the  Mayflower  down  to  1840. 
Again,  from  i860  to  1880,  the  contributions 
are  more  than  two  and  a  half  times  all  that 
preceded  i860.  At  this  rate  the  mission  cause 
will  die  only  when  all  shall  know  the  Lord, 
from  the  least  even  to  the  greatest. 

This  great  growth  is  rapidly  illumining  the 
earth.  In  the  Fiji  Islands,  fifty  years  ago, 
the  inhabitants  feasted  on  human  flesh.  To- 
day there  are  twenty-five  thousand  communi- 
cants, and  out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  inhabitants  one  hundred  and  two 
thousand  are  regular  attendants  upon  Church. 
In  1810,  in  the  Friendly  Islands,  there  was 
not  a  Christian.  To-day  there  are  eight  thou- 
sand communicants  and  twenty  thousand  wor- 
shipers. In  i860,  in  Madagascar,  there  were 
only  a  few  hundred  fugitive  Christians.  To- 
day the  queen  and  her  prime  minister  and 
over  two  hundred  and  fifty-three  thousand  of 
her  subjects  are  adherents,  with  more  than 
seventy  thousand  communicants.  A  century 
ago  Captain  Cook  brought  to  light  Polynesia, 

219 


Missionary  Addresses. 

with  its  twelve  thousand  islands,  heathen  to 
the  last  degree.    To-day  it  is  nearly  all  Chris- 
tianized. 
The     The  Prophet  of  Nazareth  is  setting  up  His 
^""'""'P^' kingdom.     It  has  been  a  long  and  hard  con- 
'"nay.t^^t.    And  the  end  is  not  yet;  but  the  bright- 
ness of  His  universal  kingdom  gilds  the  near 
future.     It  is  not  too  much  for  us  to  hope  for 
it  in  our  day.    See  the  growth  of  Christianity. 
We  give  the  numbers  of  people  under  nom- 
inal  Christian  governments   as   distinguished 
from   Pagan   governments.     The   first   three 
centuries  represent  more  nearly  the  Church 
adherents : 

First  century 500,000 

Second    century 2,000,000 

Third  century 5,000,000 

Fourth    century 10,000,000 

Fifth    century 1 5,000,000 

Sixth    century 20,000,000 

Seventh    century 25,000,000 

Eighth    century 30,000,000 

Ninth    century 40,000,000 

Tenth    century 50,000,000 

Eleventh    century 70,000,000 

Twelfth    century 80,000,000 

Thirteenth    century 75,000,000 

Fourteenth    century 80,000,000 

Fifteenth    century 100,000,000 

Sixteenth    century 125,000,000 

Seventeenth  century 155,000,000 

Eighteenth    century 200,000,000 

220 


The  Message. 

It  took  fifteen  hundred  years  to  secure  one 
hundred  million  nominal  Christians.  And  it 
required  three  hundred  years  more  to  double 
the  number,  making  two  hundred  million  in 
1800.  But  three-quarters  of  a  century  more, 
— namely,  in  1876 — the  number  had  gone  up 
to  six  hundred  and  eighty-seven  million.  It 
is  easy  to  see  that  a  quarter  of  a  century  more 
will  give  us  all  millions.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  hope  for  it  in  our  day. 

There  is  great  inspiration  in  the  fact  i\\2i\. Protest- 
this  great  advancement  is  made  by  Protestant- ''"'^^'" 
ism  rather  than  by  Romanism.    The  total  re- Roman- 
ceipts  of  the  Lyons  Propaganda,  from  its  ori-"'"- 
gin  (1822)   to  1879,  collected  from  all  parts 
of  the  world,  is  $36,943,935.     Total  receipts 
of   Protestant  Foreign   Missionary  Societies, 
$270,000,000.    Of  this  $200,000,000  is  the  gift 
of  the  last  thirty  years.     The  Roman  Cath- 
olics of  the  British  Isles  gave  to  foreign  mis- 
sions  in    1879,   $40,560.      Protestants   of   the 
same  land  and  year,  and  for  the  same  purpose, 
$5,392,830.     Roman  Catholics  in  the  United 
States    gave    for    foreign    missions    in    1879, 
$15,000.    Protestants  of  the  United  States,  for 
the  same  year,  gave  to  foreign  missions  $2,- 

221 


Missionary  Addresses. 

623,618.    These  figures  tell  who  is  doing  the 
saving  work,  and  who  ought  to  grow. 

The  following  table,  showing  the  popula- 
tion under  Roman  Catholic,  Greek,  and  Prot- 
estant governments,  shows  which  is  actually 
growing: 


Year. 

Roman  Cath- 
olic. 

Greek. 

Protestant. 

Total. 

1500,       .    . 
1700,      .    . 
1830,      .    . 
1876,      .    . 

80,000,000 

90,000,000 

134,164,000 

180,787,905 

20,000,000 
33,000,000 
60,000,000 
96,101,894 

32,000,000 
193,624,000 
408,569,612 

100,000,000 
155,000,000 
387.788,000 
685,459,411 

Surely  these  columns  are  moving  in  the 
right  direction. 

It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  this  rush 
toward  Protestantism  is  a  rush  too  far,  and 
that  we  lose  in  conviction  more  than  we  gain 
in  freedom.  But  a  careful  study  of  the  faiths 
of  the  English-speaking  peoples  answers  all 
doubts. 

In  1800  there  were  twenty- four  million 
English-speaking  people,  of  whom  fourteen 
million  were  Protestant,  five  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand  were  Roman  Catholic,  and  four 
million  five  hundred  thousand  were  of  no 
faith.  In  1880  there  were  eighty-one  million 
English-speaking  people,  of  whom  fifty-nine 
million  were  Protestant,  thirteen  million  five 

222 


The  Message. 

hundred  thousand  were  Roman  Catholic,  and 
but  eight  million  five  hundred  thousand  were 
of  no  faith.  The  English-speaking  popula- 
tion increased  in  eighty  years  three  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  per  cent,  the  Roman  Catholic 
only  one  hundred  and  forty-five  per  cent, 
while  the  Protestant  increased  four  hundred 
and  twenty-one  per  cent,  and  those  of  no  faith 
less  than  one  hundred  per  cent.  These  figures 
are  not  alarming.  This  is  particularly  so 
when  we  see  the  leading  skeptics  "hearkening 
back,"  saying,  "We  were  steadied  by  what 
our  mothers  taught  us  from  the  rejected 
Bible;  but  what  will  steady  our  children?" 

The  Church  figures  in  this  country  are 
cheering.  In  1800  there  was  one  communi- 
cant for  every  14.50  inhabitants;  in  1850,  one 
for  6.57;  in  1870,  one  for  5.74;  in  1879,  one 
for  every  5.15.  Surely  we  can  g\\t  thanks  to 
God,  and  go  boldly  for  the  conquest  for  all 
heathenism. 

In  1760,  in  a  little  room  in  Geneva,  Vol- 
taire boastingly  said,  "Before  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century  Christianity  will 
have  disappeared  from  the  earth."  Could  the 
poor  man  stand  in  that  little  room  to-day  he 
would  take  up  one  of  the  Bibles  there  offered 

223 


Missionary  Addresses. 

for  sale,  and  turning  to  Isaiah's  inspired  page, 
he  would  say,  "By  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century  Christianity  shall  fill  the  whole  earth, 
for  'the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea.'  " 

A  century  ago  France  rejected  God,  and 
Captain  Cook  found  the  Sandwich  Islanders, 
who  did  not  know  God.  In  1872  the  children 
of  those  heathen,  touched  by  the  gospel,  sent 
$2,000  to  relieve  the  sufferings  that  had  come 
upon  the  children  of  those  infidels  in  France. 

"There  's  a  wideness  in  God's  mercy, 
Like  the  wideness  of  the  sea." 

The  gospel  is  building  up  characters  in  the 
midst  of  heathenism  that  do  honor  to  any  age 
of  martyrs. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Whitehead,  in  the  address  al- 
ready referred  to  on  page  199,  gave  the  fol- 
lowing incident,  showing  what  heroic  men 
the  converted  heathens  are: 

"Another  man,  the  keeper  of  the  Confucian 
temple  at  Potlan,  an  ancient  town  on  the  Can- 
ton East  River,  received  the  Scripture  from 
a  colporteur  of  the  London  Missionary  Soci- 
ety; he  was  baptized  by  Dr.  Legge;  he  at 
once  gave  up  his  employment,  and  among  his 

224 


The  Message. 

acquaintances  and  friends  appointed  himself 
as  a  Scripture  reader;  he  was  a  sort  of  mov- 
ing conscience  among  the  Chinese.  He  went 
about  the  streets  of  the  city,  and  into  the  in- 
terior, with  boards  upon  his  back  bearing 
texts  of  the  Holy  Scripture;  and  so  abun- 
dantly were  that  man's  labors  honored  that  in 
about  three  years  a  hundred  persons  were 
ready  to  receive  Christian  baptism.  So 
mightily  grew  the  Word  of  God,  and  pre- 
vailed, that  in  a  short  time  excitement  began 
to  appear,  and  then  hostility,  and  then  perse- 
cution broke  out;  Christians  were  driven  from 
their  villages,  and  their  property  plundered. 
This  man  was  taken,  and  twice  within  forty- 
eight  hours  was  had  up  before  the  mandarins 
to  account  for  his  conduct,  and  he  was  called 
upon  to  recant.  This  he  steadfastly  refused 
to  do.  They,  therefore,  tried  what  torture 
would  do,  and  suspended  him  by  the  arms 
through  the  night.  The  next  morning  he  was 
brought  forth,  pale,  wan,  feeble,  almost  ready 
to  drop,  for  a  second  trial,  still  resolved  to 
cleave  to  the  Bible  and  to  Christ,  and  he  ven- 
tured to  express  the  hope  that  his  persecutors 
and  judges  might  some  day  accept  the  new 
IS  225 


Missionary  Addresses. 

doctrine.  This  was  too  much  for  them ;  they 
rushed  upon  him,  like  the  judges  of  Stephen, 
Vith  one  accord,'  and  killed  him  on  the  spot 
by  repeated  blows  with  their  side-arms,  and 
threw  him  into  the  river.  Thus  perished  one 
of  China's  first  Protestant  martyrs." 

The  mission  work  is  a  great  work.  It  is 
rising  rapidly  toward  completion.  Jesus  is 
claiming  His  own.  Soon  all  kingdoms  shall 
be  His.  The  Christian  Churches  are  out  in 
force.  Nothing  shall  long  withstand  them. 
Brother,  turn  back  to  the  table  of  mission- 
ary benevolence  of  the  different  Protestant 
Churches,  and  study  our  record  in  compari- 
son with  the  records  of  the  other  denomina- 
tions. Are  you  satisfied  with  it?  Are  we 
doing  our  even  share  of  this  great  work? 
When  the  Master  comes,  can  we  meet  Him 
with  the  conviction  that  we  have  done  what 
we  could?  Let  us  pray  God  that  our  great 
Methodism  may  stand  in  her  lot  and  place  in 
such  a  noble  way  that  the  King  will  be  as- 
sured that  He  can  ask  anything  of  her  in  this 
mighty  conquest. 

Brother,  with  your  hand  on  your  headstone, 
your  eye  on  the  judgment  throne,  and  your 

226 


The  Message. 

heart  naked  and  open  to  the  AUseeing  Eye, 
answer  this  question :  Will  you  not  do  for  this 
cause  what  God  requires  of  you? 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  "the  way  to  hoiv 
raise  missionary  money  is  to  raise  it."     It  is^°^^"^ 
necessary  to  be  more  specific.     It  is  trite  to  Money. 
say,  "Apply  the  Plan  laid  down  in  the  Disci- 
pline," but  it  is  good  advice. 

In  advancing  this  great  cause  you  must  dis- 
tribute the  sum  to  be  raised  over  a  greater 
number  of  contributors.  The  Plan  does  this. 
If  you  have  never  applied  it,  you  will  find 
its  application  much  more  simple  and  easy 
than  you  expect.  Select  a  few  persons,  men 
or  women ;  give  to  each  a  collector's  book, 
and  distribute  the  names  of  the  members  of 
the  Church  and  congregation  among  these 
collectors,  and  ask  them  to  secure  a  contribu- 
tion either  weekly,  monthly,  or  quarterly, 
from  each  person  on  their  lists.  The  old 
givers  will  not  fall  back,  but  many  new  ones 
will  be  added,  and  the  total  result  will  be 
much  in  advance  of  any  previous  year,  while 
no  one  will  be  hurt. 

A  brother  in  one  of  the  seaboard  Confer- 
ences was  sent  to  a  poor  charge  in  a  city.  It 
agreed  to  pay  him  $1,200.     Many  doubted 

227 


Missionary  Addresses. 

their  ability  to  carry  such  a  load.  The 
brother  adopted  the  Plan  of  the  Discipline. 
Everybody  gave  a  little  all  the  time.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  he  had  received  his  $1,200, 
and  he  took  to  Conference  $1,700  for  mis- 
sions, and  no  one  was  harmed. 

A  brother  in  the  New^  England  Conference 
had  a  church  almost  swallowed  by  a  great 
debt.  By  almost  superhuman  exertions  he 
raised  the  money  and  pledges  to  pay  the  debt. 
But  to  do  it  he  was  obliged  to  "give  the 
heathen  the  go-by."  This  did  not  seem  right, 
so  he  appointed  six  women  to  apply  the  Plan 
in  the  Discipline.  Among  these  women  he 
distributed  the  names  of  the  members.  They 
went  about  with  much  fear  and  trembling  to 
glean  a  little,  and  give  those  who  wanted  to 
give  a  chance.  At  the  end  of  the  year  he  had 
raised  in  this  way  more  than  twice  as  much 
as  the  year  before,  and  nobody  was  hurt. 

Bishop  Harris  tells  of  a  case  he  met  when 
he  was  Missionary  Secretary.  The  pastor  of 
a  certain  Church  had  two  hobbies  which  he 
rode  alternately;  sometimes  one  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  the  other  at  night;  sometimes  one, 
one  Sabbath,  and  the  other  the  next.  One 
hobby  was  Missions,  and  the  other  was  Sanc- 

228 


The  Message. 

tification.  Good  steeds  to  drive  together. 
Neither  works  well  in  single  harness.  One 
becomes  Pharisaism  and  the  other  fanaticism 
when  driven  alone.  The  first  Sabbath  the 
pastor  was  at  the  charge  he  preached  his  first 
sermon  on  missions.  And  at  night  he 
preached  again  on  missions.  Before  dismiss- 
ing the  evening  congregation  he  asked  the 
membership  to  tarry  for  a  few  moments  after 
the  benediction,  for  he  wished  to  make  a  few 
remarks  on  missions.  The  Church  tarried, 
and  he  announced  that  on  a  certain  evening 
there  would  be  a  concert  of  prayer  for  mis- 
sions, and  that  Dr.  A.  and  Rev.  Mr.  B.  would 
speak  on  certain  fields.  At  the  end  of  the 
year  the  collection  for  missions  was  much 
more  than  doubled,  and  every  other  interest 
had  advanced  with  it. 

Apply  the  Discipline  to  that  last  man,  and 
Methodism  will  give  more  than  a  million 
dollars  a  year.    God  hasten  the  day! 


229 


V. 

HOME    AND    HEATHEN    MISSIONS 
CONTRASTED. 

[At  Rock  River  Conference  in  1869  Dr.  Fowler  was  ap- 
pointed to  preach  the  Conference  Missionary  Sermon  the  follow- 
ing year.  At  the  session  in  1870  he  preached  this  sermon.  It 
was  published  in  full  in  the  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate. 
The  careful  study  of  the  subject  and  the  preparation  of  this 
sermon  made  Dr.  Fowler  forever  afterward  an  enthusiast  for 
foreign  as  well  as  home  missions.] 

"Then  Paul  and  Barnabas  waxed  bold,  and  said,  It  was 
necessary  that  the  word  of  God  should  first  have  been  spoken 
to  you:  but  seeing  ye  put  it  from  you,  and  judge  yourselves  un- 
worthy of  everlasting  life,  lo,  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles;  for  so 
hath  the  Lord  commanded  us,  saying,  I  have  set  thee  to  be  a 
light  of  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  shouldest  be  for  salvation  unto 
the  ends  of  the  earth." — Acts  xiii,  46,  47. 

Let  Paul  and  Barnabas  stand  for  the 
Christian  Church;  let  the  Jews  to  whom  they 
spoke  stand  for  the  called  or  civilized  peo- 
ples of  the  world;  let  the  Gentiles  represent 
the  heathen;  let  the  actual  exaltation  of 
Christian  people  be  fairly  stated  in  saying 
that  they  "are  set  to  be  a  light  to  the  nations;" 

230 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

and  let  our  obligation  be  measured  by  God's 
requirement  that  we  should  "be  for  salvation 
unto  the  ends  of  the  earth."  Thus  we  are, 
without  introduction,  in  the  midst  of  our 
theme,  "Turning  to  the  Gentiles." 

The  uork  to  ivhich  we  thus  turn  deserves 
our  support  on  account  of  its  very  vastness. 
It  gratifies  ambition  by  the  breadth  of  its 
field,  by  the  skill  needed  for  its  achievement, 
by  the  power  developed  in  its  prosecution, 
and  by  the  immortality  secured  in  its  triumph. 
It  excites  the  cupidity  of  calculation  by  the 
harvests  that  shall  wave  on  its  deserts,  by  the 
mines  that  shall  be  opened  in  its  recesses,  by 
the  gems  that  shall  glisten  in  its  gloom,  by 
the  crafts  that  shall  carry  its  commerce,  by 
the  anvils  that  shall  ring  out  its  industry,  by 
the  spindles  that  shall  sing  of  its  activity'",  by 
the  constitutions  that  shall  control  its  count- 
less communities,  and  by  the  governments  that 
shall  guard  its  garnered  gains.  It  fires  the 
zeal  of  sacrifice  by  the  darkness  it  shall  dis- 
pel, by  the  superstitions  it  shall  strangle,  by 
the  cruelty  it  shall  crush,  by  the  ignorance  it 
shall  inhibit,  by  the  crime  it  shall  correct, 
and  by  the  despotisms  it  shall  doom.  It  fans 
the  flame  of  devotion  by  the  anguish  it  shall 

231 


Missionary  Addresses. 

assuage,  by  the  sorrow  it  shall  comfort,  by 
the  blessings  it  shall  bestow,  by  the  light  it 
shall  disseminate,  by  the  hope  it  shall  inspire, 
by  the  purity  it  shall  beget,  by  the  heaven  it 
shall  bequeath.  In  1534,  Ignatius  Loyola,  the 
wounded  soldier  of  Pampeluna,  consecrated 
himself  to  the  work  of  staying  the  German 
Reformation,  and  of  evangelizing  the  world 
in  the  interests  of  the  Roman  See.  The  very 
magnitude  of  the  enterprise  lifted  the  soldier 
into  the  saint,  and  -attracted  about  him  the 
forces  that  to-day  in  the  order  of  the  Jesuits 
control  all  the  millions  of  Romanists.  In 
1540,  Francis  Xavier  set  himself  apart  to  the 
work  of  saving  the  Indies.  He  measured 
himself  against  all  obstacles,  and  found  noth- 
ing impossible  to  his  purpose.  He  became 
as  great  as  his  work,  and  by  it  was  lifted  into 
victory.  In  twelve  years  he  preached  in  the 
Indies,  in  Japan,  and  in  China,  planted  Ro- 
manism in  forty-two  kingdoms,  and  baptized 
a  million  subjects.  The  secret  of  his  power 
was  the  transforming  power  of  the  greatness 
of  his  enterprise.  By  this  same  law  our  mis- 
sion work,  taking  ''the  world  for  the  field," 
exalts  us  into  conquerors,  and  contains  in  its 
vastness  the  prophecy  of  victory. 

232    • 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

Mission  work  is  demanded  by  the  very 
spirit  of  our  age. 

Does  this  mission  work  need  a  defense?  It 
is  at  hand  in  the  very  spirit  of  our  age.  This 
is  an  aggressive  time.  Thought  leaps  out  of 
all  restraints  and  runs  with  the  burning 
torches  of  its  inquiry  into  the  unexplored 
regions  beyond  each  science.  Books  publish 
from  the  housetops  all  secrets.  Art  has  a  new 
robe  and  a  new  life  with  every  new  moon. 
New  peoples  rise  into  the  problems  of  polit- 
ical economy  with  every  season.  New  churches 
appear  above  the  horizon  of  faith  with  every 
Sabbath.  New  engines  revolutionize  mili- 
tary tactics  with  every  war.  Everything  is 
pushing  toward  the  outer  verge  of  things. 
Christianity  can  not  stand  still,  can  not  be 
other  than  aggressive,  can  not  be  other  than 
missionary.  An  old  mummy  Paganism,  wear- 
ing the  turban  and  sandals  of  Abraham's  day, 
may  be  shut  in  by  its  native  hills  or  rivers; 
but  the  living  gospel  of  this  living  age,  having 
in  It  the  Divine  and  imperative  "Go"  of  the 
Prophet  of  Nazareth,  must  overleap  all 
streams  and  all  seas,  and  take  the  world  in  the 
embrace  of  its  purpose,  or  it  must  cease  to  be 
the  religion  of  this  living  time. 

233 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Mission  work  is  the  very  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity itself. 

Does  the  mission  work  still  need  defense? 
Its  defense  is  the  defense  of  Christianity  it- 
self. Originally  and  of  necessity  to  be  any- 
thing, Christianity  must  needs  be  purely  mis- 
sionary. It  is  Divine  truth  breaking  into  a 
heathen  world.  Christ  comes  as  a  missionary. 
Christ  is  one  sent.  He  comes  needed  but  un- 
invited. He  crowds  Himself  upon  the  race 
when  nothing  awaits  Him  but  a  manger  and 
a  cross.  He  patiently  intrenches  in  a  hostile 
world,  and  undertakes  its  subjugation.  He  is 
seeking  the  lost,  calling  not  the  righteous  but 
sinners  to  repentance.  We  are  to  have  His 
spirit.  Thus  the  New  Testament  Church  is 
the  mightiest  missionary  society  ever  launched 
upon  the  sea  of  the  centuries.  If  your  heart 
is  too  narrow  and  local  to  take  in  this  mission 
work,  look  well  to  it.     CHRIST  ALWAYS  STAYS 

OUT  WITH  His  cause. 

Mission  work  is  necessary  to  Christian  life. 

Does  this  mission  work  still  need  defense? 
It  is  ready  in  the  fact  that  it  is  necessary  to 
Christian  life.  "Freely  ye  have  received"  is 
followed  in  the  same  Divine  breath  by  "freely 
give."    The  gift  and  the  duty  are  inseparable. 

234 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

God's  government  of  souls,  like  His  govern- 
ment of  worlds,  is  through  agencies.  When 
He  conquers  a  people  He  mans  the  fortresses 
and  conscripts  the  forces,  not  by  outside  com- 
pulsion, but  by  inside  impulsion.  When  a 
soul  touches  Him  it  is  healed.  When  healed 
it  straightens  up.  When  it  straightens  up  it 
proclaims  His  glory.  The  moment  a  soul 
touches  the  Rock,  it  can  not  but  call  to  the 
struggling  swimmers  in  the  surf.  In  the  old 
days,  when  courageous  and  desperate  men 
went  with  their  teams  across  the  plains  to 
California,  one  poor  man  made  the  journey 
on  foot.  A  gentleman  who  went  with  teams 
and  abundance  told  me  that  this  man  skirted 
their  train  for  weeks.  At  last  they  struck  the 
Alkali  Desert,  where  so  many  found  disaster 
and  death.  By  dint  of  hard  driving  they 
crossed  and  camped,  and  were  leisurely  eat- 
ing a  good  supper  on  the  bank  of  a  stream 
when  this  footman  walked  by  to  the  river. 
He  drank  and  returned  to  the  wagon.  They 
invited  him  to  eat.  He  declined,  but  asked 
to  borrow  a  rubber  bucket.  He  was  covered 
with  the  Alkali  dust,  and  his  hair  was  matted. 
His  hat  was  gone.  His  shoes  were  gone.  His 
bare  feet  were  sore  and  bleeding.    His  tongue 

235 


Missionary  Addresses. 

was  still  swollen.  His  lips  were  parched  and 
cracked.  His  bare  teeth  were  still  begrimed 
with  the  sand.  They  asked  him  where  he 
was  going.  He  pointed  to  the  awful  desert 
of  death,  and  said,  "There  are  men  dying 
there,  and  I  must  go  to  them."  So  when  a 
poor  soul,  wandering  on  the  desert  of  sin, 
footsore  and  bruised  and  famishing,  reaches 
■  and  drinks  of  the  fountain  of  Eternal  Life, 
the  first  and  imperative  impulse  is,  "There  are 
dying  men  yonder,  and  I  must  go  to  them." 
This  inheres  in  Christian  life.  Resist  the  Di- 
vine impulse,  and  you  die.  This  makes  the 
missionary  work  a  necessit}^ 
Our  Does  this  mission  work  still  need  a  defense? 
Ai arching 'j'Y^Q  final  appeal  is  to  our  Great  Commander. 

Urders. 

A  missionary  once  asked  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington concerning  a  certain  mission-field, 
what  he  thought  of  the  chances  of  success. 
The  Iron  Duke  took  down  his  Bible,  and, 
turning  to  the  words  of  Jesus  on  Mount 
Olivet,  read:  "All  power  is  given  unto  Me 
in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore, 
and  teach  all  nations;"  and  then  said,  "Here 
are  your  marching  orders."  So  we  must  lis- 
ten to  our  Great  Commander.  Listen  to  His 
order.     His  word  is  above  appeal.     In  the 

236 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

hour  of  holy  communion  with  the  Church, 
He  says,  "My  Father  hath  sent  Me;  even  so 
send  I  you."  Yonder,  above  Olivet,  overlook- 
ing the  Holy  City,  in  the  presence  of  His  be- 
lieving followers,  with  His  hands  outspread  in 
benediction,  as  the  summit  of  Olivet  sinks  be- 
neath His  feet,  and  the  disciples  gaze  in  ador- 
ing awe,  and  chariots  of  light  await  His  bid- 
ding, and  unnumbered  angels  watch  His  as- 
cent, in  just  this  supreme  moment  of  all  his- 
tory. His  last  word,  His  richest,  life-giving 
blessing  falls  upon  the  Church.  "All  power  is 
given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go 
ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  teaching  them 
to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  com- 
manded you ;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world."  This  is  the  end 
of  controversy.    This  work  must  be  done. 

Startled  by  this  ever-pleading  and  imper-  Domestic 
ative  voice,  crying  "Go,"  we  spring  to  our^^"^"'"-'- 
feet,  and  look  about  us  asking,  Where?  The 
first  thing  we  see  is  that  the  wall  over  against 
our  own  doors  is  down.  This  brings  us  face 
to  face  with  the  Domestic  Missions.  This  is 
the  popular  work  of  the  Church.    This  needs 

237 


Missiofiary  Addresses. 

no  defense.  It  is  so  enthroned  and  enshrined 
that  it  can  not  be  defamed.  The  old  weakness 
that  would  stumble  along  by  sight  rather  than 
soar  by  faith,  cries  out  for  the  home  work  and 
visible  results.  The  infidel  scoff  about 
"woolen  shirts  for  South  Sea  Islanders"  finds 
such  response  that  we  feel  like  apologizing 
when  we  attempt  anything  beyond  the  home 
work.  This  field  is  important. 
Argument  Its  argument  is  compact  and  available.  As 
^"^    '''a  business  transaction  it  does  not  seem  so  ex- 

mestic 

Missions,  pensive  as  the  foreign  work.  The  money  is 
exchanged  for  direct  endeavors.  It  is  said 
that  one  dollar  here  will  go  farther  than  ten 
dollars  over  the  sea.  Here  the  missionaries 
preach  in  their  mother-tongue.  They  are  fa- 
miliar with  every  accent.  They  are  molded 
into  the  very  customs  of  the  people  whom 
they  would  serve.  They  are  fairly  steeped 
in  the  modes  of  thinking  which  they  need  to 
use.  They  are  free  from  all  the  prejudices 
that  hedge  up  the  way  of  the  foreigner. 
They  can  measure  their  full  strength  in  their 
special  work.  They  can  take  all  the  advan- 
tages of  position.  They  can  launch  their 
crafts  in  any  stream  of  social  feeling,  and  run 
them  into  the  very  heart  of  the  peoole.    Here 

238 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

the  ivhole  spirit  of  society  is  on  their  side. 
The  public  institutions,  the  Sabbath,  the 
churches  and  schools,  the  entire  atmosphere 
of  the  country,  the  deep  and  universal  moral 
sentiment, — all  these  are  allies.  All  these  pre- 
pare conviction.  They  lay  the  moral  maga- 
zine that  waits  the  fire  of  the  Word  to  lift 
men  out  of  their  sins.  If,  with  all  these  aids, 
we  fail  here,  we  need  not  go  abroad.  If  thou 
hast  run  with  footmen,  and  they  have  wearied 
thee,  how  canst  thou  contend  with  horses? 

Besides  all  this,  the  ivork  is  at  our  very 
doors.  We  can  not  go  to  our  meals  without 
passing  through  this  whitened  harvest.  There 
is  no  shrinkage  of  time  consumed  in  long  sea- 
voyages,  nor  of  life  wasted  in  contending 
against  foreign  malaria,  nor  of  money  ex- 
torted for  foreign  exchange.  But  the  work 
is  here,  is  open,  is  among  our  children  and 
neighbors,  builds  up  our  Churches,  shows  im- 
mediate fruits. 

More  than  this,  all  our  national  interests 
are  involved.  We  are  at  the  confluence  of 
nearly  all  the  great  races.  Into  the  basin  of 
the  New  World  all  the  streams  of  life  are 
flowing.  They  come  with  every  variety  of 
prejudice  and  ignorance.    They  must  be  evan- 

239 


Missionary  Addresses. 

gelized  and  digested,  or  we  must  sink.  We 
seem  to  be  providentially  a  home  mission 
people.  What  we  do  here  goes  to  strengthen 
our  own  country.  What  we  do  in  India 
builds  up  England.  What  we  do  in  China 
will  build  up  all  the  nations  entering  the  open 
door.  What  we  do  in  Africa  strengthens 
France.  What  we  do  in  Germany  strength- 
ens Prussia.  What  we  do  in  Turkey  will  ul- 
timately fortify  Russia,  or  France,  or  Eng- 
land. Thus  all  our  foreign  work  strengthens 
only  foreign  nations,  except  what  we  do  in 
China,  where  we  reap  a  part  of  the  advan- 
tage; and  these  foreign  nations  tolerate  our 
Government  because  they  fear  our  power. 
Other  nations  may  go  into  the  foreign  work 
as  we  go  into  the  home,  and  secure  the  results. 
Argument  Thcsc  positivc  argumcuts  for  the  domestic 
.J^^J  missions  are  re-enforced  by  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  the  foreign  work.  Each  mission- 
ary is  bottled  up  in  an  unknown  tongue.  He 
can  look  upon  his  subjects  in  their  need,  but 
can  not  speak  to  them.  It  takes  months  to  get 
the  cork  out.  Then  the  work  usually  lays  its 
corner-stones  in  the  coffins  of  its  messengers. 
It  has  to  learn  the  secret  of  the  enemy's  tac- 
tics and  weapons  by  studying  the  wounds  of 

24.0 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

the  fallen.  Remedies  for  the  strange  plagues 
have  to  be  discovered  by  experiment  upon 
dying  victims.  Greed  of  gain  outruns  zeal 
for  souls.  Commerce  precedes  Christianity, 
sin  crowds  in  before  righteousness.  Thus  the 
bad  lives  of  nominal  Christians  prejudice  the 
heathen  against  us.  We  appear  as  a  race  of 
slave-stealers,  or  empire-founders.  We  are 
know^n  as  desolators,  or  as  conquerors.  The 
heathen  take  their  religion  with  their  birth- 
place, and  it  is  hard  for  them  to  distinguish 
between  mere  citizens  and  actual  saints. 
Then,  in  much  of  the  foreign  field,  in  India, 
we  are  confronted  by  the  walls  of  caste. 
These  are  as  old  as  their  religion.  They  are 
in  the  ancient  codes.  These  social  walls  are 
older  than  the  covenant  with  Abraham  prom- 
ising blessings  to  all  nations  in  his  seed. 
They  have  defied  the  spear  of  the  Mussul- 
man and  the  cannon  of  the  Briton.  They 
make  martyrdom  or  exile  the  conditions  of 
accepting  Christianity.  In  the  hands  of  the 
Brahmins,  the  educated  priests,  caste  is  made 
the  foundation  of  government.  Though  op- 
posed to  natural  justice,  this  system  holds  its 
sway  by  giving  dignity  to  the  higher  orders, 
and  immunity  to  the  lower.  Thus  it  has  fed 
i6  241 


Missionary  Addresses. 

on  the  national  blood  and  brain  for  forty  cen- 
turies. This  confronts  us  as  we  enter  India. 
And  many  a  poor,  filthy,  besmeared,  naked, 
ignorant,  starving  fakir,  with  a  circle  drawn 
around  him  in  the  dust,  and  with  a  lump  of 
filth  for  an  idol  in  his  hands,  would  rather 
die  than  be  touched  by  the  fairest  hand  of 
Christendom,  or  of  any  other  lower  caste.  In 
China  we  do  not  meet  caste,  but  we  meet  a 
corresponding  bigotry.  China  is  the  Celes- 
tial Empire.  Her  pedigree  runs  back  to  the 
divinities.  The  mighty  dead  had  neither 
railroads  nor  Christianity.  So  the  reverential 
living  do  not  ask  for  either.  These  difficul- 
ties add  to  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  do- 
mestic missions. 

We  turn  to  the  Gentiles.  I  have  endeav- 
ored fairly  to  put  the  entire  case,  as  far  as 
time  will  permit.  I  accept  all  that  can  be 
said  for  the  home  work.  I  give  it  a  place  in 
my  prayers.  In  the  presence  of  all  this  argu- 
ment for  the  home  work,  I  say  with  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  "It  was  necessary  that  the  Word 
of  God  should  first  have  been  spoken  to  you." 
This  has  been  done.  The  Word  of  God  has 
been  spoken  in  these  civilized  nations.  They 
have  been  called.     These  whom  we  pursue 

242 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

by  this  home  work  have  been  invited,  and  I 
add  with  the  apostles,  "Seeing  ye  put  it  from 
you,  and  judge  yourselves  unworthy  of  ever- 
lasting life,  lo,  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles."  As 
the  call  of  the  Gentiles  did  not  exclude  the 
Jews,  nor  forsake  them,  but  left  the  door  open 
for  all  who  would  come,  so  our  turning  to 
the  heathen  does  not  abandon  the  home  work, 
but  continues  the  everlasting  invitation.  Let 
us  now  weigh  the  domestic  and  foreign  mis- 
sions in  the  scales  together.  It  may  be  that 
the  home  work  has  been  overestimated  by  us 
on  account  of  our  prejudices,  or  of  its  prox- 
imity, or  of  its  building  up  our  own 
Churches,  or  of  its  national  value.  I  am  not 
surprised  when  good  men  assail  the  foreign 
work  in  the  interest  of  the  home.  Prejudice 
is  strong  with  the  best  of  us.  Then,  we  can 
see  a  settlement  on  our  circuits  more  clearly 
than  a  settlement  in  the  valley  of  the  Ganges, 
or  on  the  banks  of  the  Minn. 

The  argument  of  cost  needs  qualifying.  Coj/. 
We  have  been  doing  a  preparatory  work. 
We  have  been  buying  seed  and  labor  for  the 
springtime;  the  harvest  is  coming.  But  in 
actual  results  the  figures  are  not  discourag- 
ing.   We  spend  in  the  home  work  $75,000,000 

243 


Missionary  Addresses. 

a  year.  All  Churches  spend  in  the  foreign 
$5,000,000  a  year.  We  have  already  six  hun- 
dred and  eighty-seven  thousand  converts  in 
Africa,  and  seven  hundred  and  thirteen  thou- 
sand in  Asia.  Can  the  home  work  show  as 
much  in  proportion  to  the  investment? 
Remote-  The  argument  of  remoteness  has  lost  its 
"^^'-  power.  When  men  say  that  the  heathen  are 
too  far  away,  that  we  had  better  look  after 
the  work  at  home,  I  have  simply  to  say  that 
that  objection  belonged  to  the  age  of  ox-teams 
and  foot-postmen.  This  is  an  age  of  railroads 
and  steamships  and  lightning.  China  has 
been  moved  into  our  State,  into  our  county, 
into  our  neighborhood.  I  can  visit  our  mis- 
sion in  Peking  in  about  the  same  number  of 
days  it  took  you  to  come  from  Buffalo  to  this 
State,  when  some  of  you  came.  You  can  give 
me  your  subscriptions  this  morning,  in  this 
city,  and  I  can  put  it  into  the  missionary's 
hand  in  his  station,  fifteen  hundred  miles  back 
from  the  coast  of  India,  in  twelve  hours  less 
than  no  time.  So  he  will  get  it  yesterday. 
I  can  take  your  money,  and  give  you  his  re- 
ceipt in  less  than  forty  minutes.  Your  draft 
given  to-day  can  be  cashed  yesterday,  before 
the  bank  closes.    Distance  is  no  longer  an  ele- 

244 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

ment  in  the  calculation.  I  agree  with  you, 
God  is  bringing  the  peoples  to  our  shores,  not 
by  the  thousand,  by  the  shipload,  as  you 
think,  but  by  the  millions,  by  the  continent- 
ful.  China  and  India,  nearer  than  the  back 
end  of  your  farm  in  damp  weather,  must  be 
taken  into  the  home  and  domestic  work. 

The  element  of  language  is  not  so  startling z.a«^aa^/?. 
as  at  first  it  seems.  Any  man,  to  carry  on  his 
work  successfully,  must  soon  study  enough 
to  master  a  foreign  tongue.  Commerce  never 
stumbles  at  this  stone.  Shall  the  gospel? 
Pleasure  often  learns  two  or  three  tongues 
that  it  may  sport  in  the  saloons  of  Paris,  or 
look  upon  the  moonlit  waves  of  Venice,  or 
walk  through  the  art  galleries  of  Berlin. 
May  not  the  apostle,  under  the  Divine  com- 
mission, seeking  blood-bought  souls,  do  as 
much?  Often  the  exile  learns  the  language 
of  the  stranger  that  he  may  have  a  home. 
May  not  the  believer  who  has  learned  the 
language  of  Canaan,  learn  another  that  others 
may  have  an  eternal  home?  Surely  we  seek 
an  excuse  when  wt  would  defend  inactivity 
by  this  plea.  Already  the  Bible  is  translated 
into  the  principal  languages.  It  is  read  in 
over  two  hundred  tongues  and  dialects.     See 

245 


Missionary  Addresses. 

what  multitudes  read  the  principal  lan- 
guages. The  Chinese  is  read  by  five  hundred 
millions  of  people;  the  Arabic  by  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  millions;  the  Sanscrit,  back  of 
twenty-four  of  the  twenty-nine  languages  of 
India  and  containing  the  classics  of  India,  by 
one  hundred  and  eighty  millions;  the  Eng- 
lish by  about  one  hundred  millions.  There 
are  in  the  world  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  languages.  More  people  read  the  Chi- 
nese than  read  any  other  language.  Think 
of  Simpson  and  Beecher  preaching  to  half 
mankind!  China  has  seventy  thousand  char- 
acters in  her  language.  But  only  ten  thou- 
sand are  necessary  in  reading  her  classics  or 
in  translating  the  New  Testament,  and  only 
two  thousand  are  required  for  common  busi- 
ness. This  leaves  a  large  margin  of  possi- 
bility. The  Sanscrit  possesses  variety  and 
pliability  suiting  it  to  the  accurate  expression 
of  every  shade  of  thought.  It  far  surpasses 
the  Hebrew  for  strength  or  the  Greek  for 
beauty.  To  pass  over  such  a  threshold  into 
a  literature  that  was  classical  long  before 
Herodotus  wrote  the  first  history  of  Greece, 
or  Homer  sang  the  first  song,  or  before  Moses 
wrote  the  Pentateuch;  a  literature  that  had 

246 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

astronomies  and  philosophies,  and  sacred 
books  and  classics,  twenty-five  hundred  years 
old  when  the  fathers  of  the  English  were  run- 
ning barefooted  in  the  forests,  with  skins  for 
clothes  and  clubs  for  weapons, — surely  to  pass 
over  such  a  threshold  into  such  a  work,  to 
such  multitudes,  is  rather  a  stimulus  than  a 
discouragement.  The  languages  of  China 
and  India  only  tempt  the  all-conquering  en- 
ergies of  the  powers  renewed  by  the  gospel. 

Take  another  point  thought  to  be  against  Prf7«^/«. 
the  foreign  work, — prejudice.  This  is  melt- 
ing in  the  light  of  better  knowledge.  In 
India  native  gentlemen  send  their  sons  to 
England  and  Europe  to  have  them  educated. 
They  crowd  them  into  every  vacancy  in  the 
government  service.  They  resort  to  all  means 
to  learn  the  English,  the  language  of  the  con- 
querors. An  Indian  rajah  of  Calcutta  has 
hired  in  his  house,  as  an  instructor,  a  Negro 
who  was  once  a  slave  in  Alabama.  His  quali- 
fication is  his  knowledge  of  the  English  Ian-, 
guage.  When  that  language  was  emphasized 
upon  his  bare  back  in  the  rice-swamps  by  the 
driver's  lash,  little  did  he  understand  to  what 
dignity  it  should  exalt  him.  The  sons  of 
India  crowd  the  halls  of  seventeen  thousand 

247 


Missionary  Addresses, 

government  schools,  that  they  may  learn  the 
English  and  modern  science,  China  is  slow, 
but  she  is  rising  out  of  this  prejudice.  To- 
day she  leans  on  the  United  States  for  defense. 
She  looks  to  us  for  treaties  and  instruction. 
She  has  borrowed  our  statesmanship,  and  will 
borrow  our  religion.  How  is  it  in  Turkey? 
The  three  great  powers  of  Europe  are  en- 
gaged in  a  triangular  struggle  for  this  land. 
Populous,  colonial,  and  naval  England,  reach- 
ing from  the  frontiers  of  China  towards  the 
Mediterranean,  wants  Turkey,  thus  to  secure 
the  short  passage  to  her  Oriental  Empires. 
France,  heroic,  historically  military,  pushing 
her  way  into  all  Continents,  desires  Turkey, 
thus  to  gain  the  means  of  crippling  her  great 
rival  of  the  Island.  And  boundless  Russia, 
with  one-seventh  of  the  land  of  the  earth  under 
her  flag,  covets  Turkey  by  a  desire  of  nine 
centuries'  growth.  These  powers  keep  each 
other  in  equipoise.  England  is  Protestant, 
France  is  Catholic,  Russia  is  Greek;  neither 
can  allow  the  missions  of  the  other  in  Turkey. 
But  all  welcome  us.  So  the  prejudice  of 
Turkey  is  for  us.  Thus  prejudice  that  arrests 
the  foreigner  is  everywhere  in  our  favor.  To 
say,  "I  am  an  American,"  secures  respect  and 

248 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

protection  in  the  streets  of  Peking,  or  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges,  or  in  the  mosques  of 
Constantinople. 

Cost,  distance,  language,  and  prejudice,  felt 
to  embarrass  our  foreign  field,  have,  in  the 
improvements  and  light  of  this  decade,  lost 
their  power,  and  we  are  allowed  to  approach 
the  comparison  in  its  material  and  substantial 
elements.  Our  liberties,  our  institutions,  our 
treaties,  our  commerce,  our  science,  our  good 
name,  and  our  religion  make  us  a  light  unto 
the  Gentiles. 

In  touching  these  comparisons  we  must  rise 
above  the  prejudices  of  nationality,  above  the 
attractions  of  local  civilizations,  and  look 
upon  the  work  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
great  mind  that  is  planning  the  salvation  of 
all  men,  and  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  Let 
us  see  it  as  Christ's  work,  and  as  if  we  were 
even  He,  and  had  the  world  on  our  hearts, 
then  we  can  better  judge.  Seen  from  this 
view  the  national  argument  is  lost  in  the 
Christly  love.  As  a  citizen  I  am  for  Amer- 
ica, as  a  Christian  I  am  for  Christ's  kingdom. 
My  character  as  Christian  is,  and  must  be, 
all  dominating.  All  things  second  to  Christ's 
cause.    Earthly  governments  may  rise  or  fall; 

249 


MissioJiary  Addresses. 

my  first  and  constant  care  must  be  for  the 
Church,  the  Lamb's  Bride.  From  this  stand- 
point we  can  compare  the  home  and  foreign 
work. 
Areas  Supposc  wc  put  ouv  domestic  field  down 
pared  ^y  ^^^^  foreign,  and  TAKE  THEIR  GIRTH. 
China  is  the  third  Empire  of  the  world  in 
size,  and  has  actually  twice  the  productive 
power  of  either  Russia  or  Great  Britain.  It 
is  about  one-tenth  of  the  earth's  surface,  is 
nearly  one-third  larger  than  the  United  States 
and  Territories,  and  is  nearly  three  times  as 
large  as  the  inhabited  portion  of  our  country. 
It  is  the  finest  belt  of  the  world;  has  every 
variety  of  climate,  soil,  scenery,  and  products. 
Its  ports  and  rivers  rival  any  in  the  world. 
Its  great  river,  Yang-tse,  surpasses  the  Mis- 
sissippi in  size,  length,  and  scenery.  Two 
hundred  miles  above  its  mouth  it  is  five  miles 
wide  and  forty  feet  deep. 

India  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  United  States 
proper.  All  the  heathen  territory  is  more 
then  ten  times  the  area  of  the  United  States. 
Taken  as  they  come  from  the  Almighty,  the 
odds  is  still  more  against  us.  We  can  not  for- 
get that  Asia,  with  the  largest  rivers,  the  high- 
est mountains,  the  grandest  scenery,  the  richest 

250 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

valleys,  the  most  numerous  cities,  and  most 
populous  kingdoms;  the  seat  of  vast  empires, 
and  of  ancient  literature;  "the  land  where  the 
first  Adam  sinned,  and  the  second  suffered; 
where  Abraham  received  the  covenant,  and 
Moses  the  law," — we  can  not  forget  that  this 
Asia  is  one  of  the  prizes  for  which  we  con- 
tend. In  extent  the  argument  is  for  the  for- 
eign work  ten  to  one. 

In  population  the  answer  is  more  astound- Po/>«/a- 
ing.  The  argument  is  short.  Drop  the''""' 
United  States  with  her  forty  millions  into 
China,  and  she  would  hardly  feel  the  addition 
of  numbers.  China,  with  the  peoples  reached 
through  her,  has  five  hundred  millions;  India, 
one  hundred  and  eighty  millions;  Turkey, 
thirty-two  millions;  Arabia,  eight  millions; 
Africa,  seventy-one  millions.  The  result  is 
for  the  foreign  work  about  twenty  to  one.  I 
wish  we  could  grasp  these  awful  figures,  and 
get  it  upon  our  thought.  Suppose  all  the 
people  of  New  York  City,  Boston,  Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  St. 
Louis,  New  Orleans,  and  San  Francisco,  with 
all  the  people  of  all  the  New  England  States, 
and  of  all  the  Middle  States,  and  of  all  the 
Southern  States,  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  Illinois, 

251 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Missouri,  and  California, — suppose  all  the 
peoples  of  these  twenty-five  Commonwealths, 
with  all  their  great  cities,  were  crowded  into 
the  single  State  of  Illinois:  as  we  elbowed  our 
way  through  we  would  be  in  population  less 
dense  than  in  the  Chinese  Province  of  Kiu- 
kiang,  with  its  thirty-five  cities,  many  of  them 
larger  than  New  York  City.  The  entire  pop- 
ulation of  the  home  field  could  be  struck  from 
the  ranks  of  heathenism  and  not  be  missed. 
Let  the  heathen  join  hands,  and  they  could 
belt  the  entire  world  thirty-two  times.  If  you 
were  introduced  to  each  one,  giving  each  forty 
seconds,  it  would  take  more  than  one  thou- 
sand years  to  speak  to  them  all.  These  figures 
are  overwhelming.  The  argument  is  twenty 
to  one  for  the  foreign  work.  These  figures 
only  present  the  skirmish  line  of  the  argu- 
ment. 
fTant.  The  main  body  of  the  argument  is  in  the 
law  of  demand,  in  the  defnand  based  upon 
actual  want.  The  greater  the  suffering,  the 
greater  the  demand  for  relief.  This,  in 
morals,  is  an  axiom.  A  mother  leaves  the 
child  who  may  be  only  restless,  that  she  may 
watch  over  the  one  that  is  at  the  crisis  of  a 
fever.     A  father  leaves  a  child  that  merely 

252 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

shivers  in  the  rain,  that  he  may  rescue  the  one 
that  is  drowning  in  the  surf.  This  is  an  im- 
perative law.  The  greater  the  need,  the 
greater  the  demand  for  help.  Seen  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  Savior,  who  is  no  respecter 
of  persons,  but  who  came  to  call,  not  the  right- 
eous, but  sinners  to  repentance,  there  is  no 
room  left  for  argument.  I  am  bold  to  say  that 
the  heathen  w^ork  is  to  the  home  work,  as  one 
million  to  one. 

Take  the  case  on  a  mere  humanitarian  basis,  p/o^/Va/ 
with   no   thought   of   eternity.      Contrast   the  ^'"■'^^- 

.    .  .  .  tinns. 

physical  conditions.  Read  Bishop  Kingsley's 
account  of  heathen  cities  and  countries. 
There  is  not  a  railroad  or  telegraph  or  spring- 
wagon  in  all  China.  Her  roads  have  not  been 
repaired  in  two  thousand  years.  Her  streets 
are  six  feet  wide,  the  avenues  twelve.  In  the 
middle  of  the  broad  streets  is  the  sewer, 
heaped  up  with  filth  six  or  ten  feet  high.  In 
the  narrow  streets  it  is  piled  up  to  the  eaves 
of  their  one-story  houses;  they  have  no  other, 
save  the  government  buildings.  They  have 
no  pavements.  At  night  they  water  the  filthy 
streets  with  the  filthy  water  of  their  filthy 
houses.  A  glue  factory  would  be  a  deoderizer 
in  any  heathen  city.    China  has  vast  stores  of 

253 


Missionary  Addresses. 

coal,  and  wealthy  mines,  but  she  will  not  al- 
low them  to  be  worked,  lest  the  evil  spirit  be 
insulted.  She  has  territory,  large  enough  for 
whole  empires,  open,  productive,  healthful, 
but  sparsely  inhabited,  because  she  will  not 
leave  the  graves  of  her  ancestors.  She  swarms 
in  about  the  old  centers  till  she  fairly  rots. 
The  old  prisons,  even  before  the  days  of 
Howard,  were  Edens  compared  to  Chinese 
cities.  There  is  no  forward  movement. 
Bishop  Thomson  sums  up  Chinese  improve- 
ment, saying: 

"You  find  windows  without  glass;  farrrs 
without  fences;  wells  without  buckets;  houses 
without  chimneys;  printing  without  types; 
streets  without  sidewalks ;  business  without 
newspapers;  exchange  without  banks;  banks 
without  charters ;  money  paid  by  weight,  as 
Abraham  estimated  his  shekels ;  criminals 
punished  by  torture,  as  apostles  were  punished 
by  the  Sanhedrim;  marriages  effected  by  go- 
betweens,  as  Isaac  obtained  Rebecca;  coolies 
standing  idle  in  the  market-places ;  the  beggar 
on  his  knees;  the  poor  man  carrying  his  bed; 
living  men  occupying  tombs;  the  most  impor- 
tant events  regulated  by  fortune-tellers;  evil 
spirits  warded  off  by  charms;  diseases  attrib- 

254 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

uted  to  devils,  and  cured  by  incantations;  and 
eclipses  ascribed  to  a  giant." 

Surely  nothing  can  exceed  their  need  of  re- 
lief. They  must  have  some  power  able  to  lift 
them  out  of  their  corruption  and  ancient  dis- 
abilities, and  thus  open  to  them  a  better  life. 
They  have  soil  enough,  but  they  do  not  use  it. 
England  has  machinery  equal  to  one  million 
of  men.  France  and  the  United  States  as 
much  more.  China  could  use  five  times  as 
much,  and  thus  multiply  her  resources  and 
her  relative  supply.  India  is  in  the  same  con- 
demnation, except  as  it  is  being  modified  by 
English  enterprise.  Is  there  a  prison  where 
a  poor  victim  pines  in  pain  over  whom  you 
weep?  Here  is  a  prison  where  six  hundred 
millions  at  the  extremity  of  physical  and  social 
deprivations  barely  exist,  tortured  by  super- 
stitions, robbed  by  priests,  murdered  by  magis- 
trates, enslaved  by  monsters,  starved  by  pro- 
hibitions, and  fairly  decomposing  by  the  dis- 
eases begotten  of  the  filth  and  vileness,  and 
God  has  brought  them  within  a  few  days' 
journey  of  your  very  door,  saying,  "Look  on 
My  image  and  the  purchase  of  My  blood." 

Brothers,  give  me  your  thought,  and  let  us  Religions. 
compare  these  fields  in  their  religions.    The 

255 


Missionary  Addresses. 

religions  of  the  world  may  be  summed  up  in 
four  great  families,  radically  distinguished  by 
their  conceptions  of  the  fundamental  idea  of 
God, — Buddhism,  Brahmanism,  Mohammed- 
anism, and  Christianity.  I  state,  on  the  au- 
thority of  Bishop  Thomson,  that  Buddhism 
is  accepted  by  three  hundred  millions  of  peo- 
ple; Brahmanism  by  one  hundred  and  fifty 
millions;  Mohammedanism  by  one  hundred 
and  eighty  millions;  Christianity  by  three 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  millions.  Buddhism 
is  atheistic,— practically  that  there  is  no  God: 
saying,  "The  Infinite  can  not  be  revealed  to 
the  finite."  Brahmanism  is  pantheistic, — that 
everything  is  God.  Mohammedanism  is  De- 
istic, — that  there  is  but  one  God  and  no  Sav- 
ior. Christianity  accepts  God  as  revealed  in 
His  Word  and  Son.  Buddhism  ramified  into 
eighty-four  thousand  sects,  and  Brahmanism 
divided  into  two  hundred  and  seventy  castes, 
are  found  chiefly  in  China  and  India,  with 
three  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of  gods. 
Mohammedanism  is  found  in  Turkey,  Arabia, 
Africa,  and  India.  Christianity  controls 
North  America,  South  America,  Europe, 
Northern  Asia,  British  India,  Oceanica,  and 
other  territory  in  Asia  and  Africa  amounting 

256 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

to  as  many  square  miles  as  that  occupied  by 
the  United  States.  These  systems  are  not  mere 
names  thrown  by  chance  upon  these  millions. 
But  they  are  systems  with  a  pedigree  and  a 
posterity.  The  true  God  and  His  revelation 
to  the  infant  race  as  recorded  in  the  Bible,  is 
the  stalk  on  which  all  these  systems  grow. 
Buddhism  and  Brahmanism  come  out  in  the 
mythology  of  India.  This  degenerates  into 
the  mythologies  of  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome. 
Mohammedanism  is  grafted  on  to  the  Bible, 
placing  Mohammed  above  Christ,  power 
above  righteousness,  and  lust  for  heaven. 
Their  posterity  are  among  us.  Buddhism  is 
repeated  in  positivism,  that  rejects  the  facts 
of  the  supernatural  and  accepts  only  the  facts 
of  science.  Brahmanism  is  New  England 
pantheism.  Carlyle  and  Emerson,  asking  us 
to  worship  great  men,  are  only  miniature 
Chinese  with  teachings  more  crude  than  that 
of  the  mandarins  even  long  before  the  age 
when  Balaam  tried  to  prophesy  against  Israel. 
Mohammedanism  is  seen  again  in  Mormon- 
ism  and  the  vile  impostor  of  the  American 
Desert,  as  Bishop  Thomson  savs:  "Both  ad- 

7  1  -- 

mit  the   inspiration  of  the   Scriptures;  both 
superadd  a  false  scripture,  to  which  they  give 
17  257 


Missionary  Addresses. 

precedence;  both  have  a  carnal  prophet  and 
polygamous  people;  both  have  a  sanguinary 
and  aggressive  spirit."  These  are  the  systems. 
Morals.  The  morals  of  these  systems  are  exactly 
what  we  might  expect.  There  is  no  literature 
in  India  fit  for  a  lady  to  read.  Travelers  say 
it  is  to  their  credit  that  the  women  go  to  their 
temples  at  night,  their  service  is  so  vile  and 
revolting;  and  fortunate  that  they  go  veiled 
by  day  through  their  cities.  Slavery  is  incor- 
porated into  their  religion  and  government, 
and  even  yet  defies  the  mandate  of  the 
British  rulers.  Prostitution  is  the  almost 
general  practice.  There  are  said  to  be 
more  prostitutes  in  India  than  there  are 
women  in  the  United  States.  Thuggee,  con- 
secrated and  religious  assassination  to  please 
a  malignant  goddess,  is  organized  through- 
out India.  Infanticide  is  commended  in  both 
China  and  India.  The  natural  charities 
of  the  human  heart  are  turned  aside  from 
legitimate  objects.  "They  will  stop  an  army 
to  save  an  insect,  wear  out  men  in  building 
hospitals  for  sick  animals,"  hire  beggars  to 
lie  quiet  that  vermin  may  feast  upon  them. 
Yet  they  trample  their  sisters  and  wives  to 
death,  burn  their  own  mothers  alive,  strangle 

258 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

their  own  daughters,  assassinate  their  own 
fathers,  and  pray  to  devils.  Mohammedan- 
ism is  no  better,  but  rather  worse.  They  teach 
that  God  punishes  the  good  and  bad  alike  at 
His  will.  A  believer's  vilest  sin  is  better  than 
the  prayers  of  an  alien.  They  build  magnifi- 
cent tombs  to  harlots,  as  at  Bijnour.  They 
accept  mosques  built  by  the  price  of  virtue, 
as  at  Seetapoor.  These  lands  are  full  to  the 
very  brim  with  crimes  for  which  we  have 
no  name,  and  seething  with  corruption  of 
which  we  have  no  conception.  True,  there 
are  great  crimes  in  Christendom,  but  they 
shock  and  amaze  mankind.  The  public  senti- 
ment is  outraged  and  the  public  conscience 
demands  public  punishment.  Our  religion  is 
against  all  these  crimes.  But  the  religion  of 
heathenism  incorporates  these  crimes  into  its 
creed,  and  commends  and  canonizes  the  crim- 
inals. Surely,  on  the  mere  basis  of  philan- 
thropy, even  without  reference  to  the  interests 
of  eternity,  the  question  is  forever  settled  in 
favor  of  the  foreign  work.  We  are  compelled 
with  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  turn  unto  the  Gen- 
tiles, that  we  may  cast  some  light  into  their 
darkness  and  some  hope  into  their  despair. 
The  ratio  of  the  saved  keeps  fairly  equal 

259 


Missionary  Addresses. 

step  with  the  amount  of  light  disbursed.  Let 
us  glance  at  the  chances  of  salvation  for  these 
Thepeople.  Here  the  question  becomes  over- 
^'?"'''"'"  whelming.  Heathenism  offers  its  final  wail 
'vaiion.on  the  brink  of  perdition!  We  start  at  the 
thought  that  these  millions  are  going  to  death. 
We  are  not  willing  to  measure  our  duty  by 
such  a  standard.  We  think  of  Socrates,  and 
of  Plato,  and  of  Plutarch,  and  of  Confucius, 
and  expect  to  meet  them  in  heaven ;  and  thus 
we  console  ourselves,  and  forget  that  we  count 
these  Pagan  saints  on  our  fingers,  while  the 
uncounted  millions  are  living  in  corruption 
and  dying  in  despair.  We  repeat  the  passage 
from  St.  Paul,  that  the  heathen  are  a  law  unto 
themselves,  to  be  judged  without  law;  but 
we  do  not  recall  his  accompanying  statements 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Romans  of  how  fear- 
fully they  have  failed.  This  to  me  is  the 
amazing  motive,  the  lostness  of  these  millions. 
I  do  not  say  that  all  are  inevitably  lost.  I 
know  that  "the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do 
right."  I  doubt  not  that  a  heathen  obeying 
the  dictates  of  the  inner  law  would  be  saved. 
But  they  do  not  seem  to  obey  that  law.  The 
heathen  must  have  more  light  to  increase  their 
chances.    We  need  to  feel  this  as  a  fact.    We 

260 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

hold  the  Bible  with  a  too  nerveless  grasp.  I 
would  to  God  that  you  would  ground  your 
convictions  on  the  Word  of  God!  Then  on 
the  law  of  demand  we  must  turn  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. 

These  people  at  home  have  the  gospel; 
enough  to  save  them,  if  they  will  improve  it. 
The  churches  are  not  sparse  nor  overcrowded. 
The  kingdom  is  not  full.  These  people  have 
the  truth.  They  know  God,  and  the  plan  of 
salvation.  That  vagrant  in  the  alley  knows 
more  about  God  and  His  way  of  salvation 
than  the  mightiest  philosophers  of  India  or 
China.  These  men  of  the  border,  where  we 
are  trying  to  plant  the  Church,  are  out  of  our 
homes  and  Sunday-schools,  and  if  they  never 
saw  a  minister,  if  they  would  they  could  or- 
ganize and  set  on  foot  saving  forces  equal  to 
their  necessities.  As  under  God's  eye  let  us 
honestly  ask  ourselves.  Are  we  not  planning 
in  our  work  too  much  for  mere  propagand- 
ism?  Let  us  plan  unselfishly  for  the  salvation 
of  the  race.  Those  whom  we  pursue  with  the 
home  work  have  had  the  Word  of  God  spoken 
unto  them.  Before  God  I  believe  it  is  our 
duty  to  turn  to  the  Gentiles,  not  shutting  the 
door  against  our  neighbors,  but  opening  it  to 

261 


Missionary  Addresses. 

all.  On  the  great  law  of  demand,  there  re- 
mains no  room  for  doubt.  Our  home  field, 
with  its  eight  thousand  ministers,  two  hundred 
thousand  teachers  for  forty  millions  of  people, 
is  far  in  advance  of  our  foreign  work,  as  in 
China  with  less  than  one  hundred  ministers 
and  teachers  for  five  hundred  millions  of 
people. 
Ponuer  The  strength  of  our  Missionary  Society  is 
"^in  the  Christly  spirit  that  consecrates  its  treas- 

Missiotis.  7  •        7  7       7- 

ures  to  the  L,ord,  rather  than  tn  the  calculation 
that  would  make  everything  gravitate  around 
local  and  personal  interests.  I  believe  that  a 
candid  putting  of  the  exact  case  of  our  work 
among  the  heathens  before  the  mind,  and  upon 
the  heart  of  the  whole  Church,  will  bring 
such  a  response  as  we  have  never  yet  had. 
The  great  fact  on  which  I  rely  is,  that  these 
hundreds  of  millions  are  actually  living  in  the 
vilest  practices,  and  dying  in  all  that  corrup- 
tion, and  that  we  have  the  gospel,  which  is 
able  to  save  them  even  to  the  uttermost.  We 
have  seen  Him  who  came  by  the  way  of  the 
world  saving  just  such  sinners,  and  we  know 
He  can  save  them. 

And  He  is  saving  them.    There  are  already 
signs  of  victory.     Heathenism  is  dying  out. 

262 


Home  and  Heathen  Missions  Contrasted. 

Ages  ago  their  systems  inspired  art.  But  now 
they  only  drag  the  people  down.  All  the 
noble  works  are  hoary  with  centuries.  China 
looks  at  her  twenty-five  thousand  miles  of  wall 
and  thinks  only  of  her  departed  greatness. 
India  steps  into  the  cars  of  the  conqueror,  and 
sickens  of  the  castes  that  could  not  save  her 
even  though  she  trusted  them  before  there 
was  any  Briton,  or  any  Gaul,  or  any  Roman, 
or  any  Greek,  or  even  any  Egyptian.  The 
iron  horse  of  the  Island  Queen  will  startle  the 
Indies  from  the  slumber  of  ages.  Awakened, 
they  will  see  Christ  and  live.  The  soul  of 
Burlingame  will  go  from  the  palace  of  the 
Celestial  Empire  down  among  the  crowded 
millions.  They  will  open  their  eyes  to  see  in 
his  countrymen  the  missionaries  of  Christ. 
The  work  is  firmly  rooted  in  the  rich  soils  of 
the  East.  Already  six  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  thousand  converts  are  praying  in  Africa, 
and  more  yet  in  Asia.  The  progress  of  the 
last  fifty  years  exceeds  the  progress  of  the  first 
fifty  of  Christianity.  Look  at  the  advance  of 
Christ's  kingdom.  At  the  end  of  the  first  cen- 
tury there  were  five  hundred  thousand  be- 
lievers; at  the  end  of  the  third,  five  millions; 
of  the  tenth,  fifty  millions;  of  the  fifteenth, 

263 


Missionary  Addresses. 

one  hundred  millions;  in  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth,  three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  mil- 
lions. We  prophesy,  "at  the  end  of  the  twen- 
tieth, all  millions." 

Open  your  eyes.  The  temporal  power  of 
the  Pope  gone;  France,  his  last  support,  strug- 
gling for  liberty;  Rome,  his  very  seat,  about 
to  be  the  capital  of  a  constitutional  monarchy; 
Spain  almost  free;  Protestant  Prussia  domi- 
nant; free  America  uncursed  by  a  single  slave; 
England  moving  in  great  reforms;  China 
reading  the  Bible  in  her  native  tongue; 
Turkey  open  to  missionaries;  India  listening 
to  the  glad. news,  and  echoing  the  blessed  foot- 
steps of  the  apostle.  The  way  is  being  pre- 
pared for  His  coming.  The  East  is  already 
brightening  into  the  full  morning.  I  look  in 
trembling  expectation  toward  the  future.  I 
can  hear  His  coming  footsteps.  I  am  awed 
by  His  divine  nearness.  I  bow  as  in  His 
sacred  presence.  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come 
quickly.     Amen  and  Amen, 


264 


VI. 

THE  FIELD. 

[This  address  was  delivered  by  Dr.  Fowler  as  pastor  of 
Centenary  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Chicago,  in  1872,  the 
year  following  the  great  Chicago  fire.] 

This  is  an  enterprise  worthy  of  its  Divine 
origin.  It  was  always  God's  plan  concerning 
us  to  give  us  the  kingship  of  the  world.  He 
started  us  with  dominion  over  all  animals,  and 
sent  us  forth  into  the  world  to  dress  and  keep 
it.  True,  it  is  a  poor  keeping  we  have  given 
it.  God's  garden  has  faded  into  our  wilder- 
ness. The  peaceful  olive  has  fled  before  the 
threatening  thorn;  the  delicate  lily  has  given 
way  for  the  coarse  thistle;  and  the  modest 
violet  has  ceased  her  smiling  in  the  meadow 
to  make  room  for  the  ambushing  of  the 
treacherous  nettle.  These  are  dim  types  of 
a  mightier  desolation  that  has  been  accom- 
plished within,  in  the  dimming  of  the  intel- 
lectual faculties  and  the  deranging  of  the 
moral  perceptions.     In   the  field   as   it  now 

265 


Missionary  Addresses. 

presents  itself  the  odds  are  vastly  increased 
against  us,  so  that  every  acre  redeemed  rep- 
resents vastly  more  outlay  of  purpose  and 
power  than  it  could  have  done  when  the  Gar- 
den was  first  committed  to  our  great  ancestor. 
Dimmed  and  enfeebled  faculties,  in  a  body 
waging  a  losing  and  fatal  war  against  Death, 
struggling  to  subdue,  not  a  garden  of  fruits 
and  flowers,  but  a  rock  waste  and  a  jungle, 
must  make  head  slowly  in  this  heavy  tillage. 
It  need  not  be  so  ivonderful  that  the  field 
is  not  yet  all  seeded  down  to  righteousness. 
There  are  yet  vast  regions  unscratched  by  the 
gospel  plowshare.  Look  over  the  world.  On 
this  Continent,  where  we  think  we  see  the 
richest  harvest,  away  to  the  north  natives  sit 
in  their  ice-caves,  wrapped  in  furs  and  feed- 
ing on  oil,  into  whose  hearts  not  one  ray  from 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  has  penetrated.  A 
few  villages  have  been  turned  into  mission 
posts,  but  the  great  tribes  are  uncalled.  Swing 
down  through  the  northwestern  belt,  and 
through  the  great  valley,  and  by  the  coast. 
The  mass  of  the  people  are  in  deep  Paganism. 
Drop  down  through  the  vast  regions  to  the 
Gulf,  cross  the  Isthmus,  plunge  on  into  the 
kingdoms  and  republics  of  South  America. 

266 


The  Field. 

You  find  a  Christianity  so  paganized  that  it 
becomes  an  enemy  of  civilization  and  a  hin- 
drance to  Christ's  kingdom.  What  do  we  find 
in  Africa?  Here  and  there  a  mission  house, 
now  and  then  a  weary  evangel,  but  tens  of 
millions  who  sit  in  darkness,  not  knowing  that 
there  is  any^  light  anywhere.  Pass  over  into 
Asia.  Make  your  way  through  the  millions 
that  follow  the  false  prophet;  ascend  the  Ural 
Mountains,  look  down  upon  half  the  human 
race  in  idolatry  and  lust.  The  field  is  not  all 
occupied.  The  work  is  not  all  done.  While 
an  Esquimau  watches  for  his  seal  without 
watching  for  the  Lord;  while  a  Sioux  meas- 
ures his  glory  by  his  scalps;  while  a  devotee 
takes  a  wafer  as  the  end  of  all  revelation; 
while  a  Bushman  bows  to  his  toad,  and  a 
Hottentot  to  his  viper;  while  a  Mussulman 
expects  a  heaven  of  lust,  and  sees  the  arms  of 
most  beautiful  women  outstretched  from  the 
heavens  for  the  embrace  of  the  most  beastly 
and  bloody  butchers  on  fields  of  carnage; 
while  the  walls  of  caste  make  oppressors  of 
the  few  and  outcasts  of  the  rest;  while  Hindoo 
love  keeps  the  wife  from  the  table  of  her  hus- 
band, and  Hindoo  faith  keeps  her  from  the 
temple  of  God;  while  Mandarin  superstition 

267 


Missionary  Addresses. 

crushes  the  Chinese  women  either  into  crip- 
ples or  into  harlots;  while  there  remains  a 
heathen  temple  uncleansed,  or  a  heathen  idol 
undemolished, — there  will  still  be  work  to  be 
done. 
A  This  work  still  seems  vast.  But  we  have 
Landing.  ^  gQQ^  start  and  vast  resources.  The  Cause 
has  made  a  landing.  In  the  Russian  war  of 
the  Crimea  it  became  necessarv  for  the  allies 
to  land  on  a  barren  sand  beach  under  the  con- 
verging fire  of  five  forts.  The  men  were  to 
land,  and  in  that  shower  of  death  construct 
defenses.  The  English  troops  were  felt  to  be 
the  most  resolute,  and  were  sent  on  the  forlorn 
mission.  They  shipped  and  steamed  up  into 
the  dreadful  gap.  Partially  protected  by  the 
vessels,  they  got  down  into  the  small  boats, 
and  pulled  round  into  the  iron  gale.  Many  a 
gallant  little  crew  was  crushed  before  it  went 
a  boat's  length.  But  all  pulled  for  the  shore; 
some  in  the  little  boats,  some  on  fragments, 
and  some  by  swimming,  reached  the  beach. 
There,  lying  on  their  faces  on  the  sand,  with 
their  broken  canteens  they  scooped  out  holes 
for  their  bodies.  Though  hundreds  fell,  yet 
these  holes  grew  into  an  intrenchment,  and 
the  allies  had  a  landing  at  the  weak  point  of 

268 


The  Field. 

the  fortifications.  Victory  was  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time.  We  have  a  landing.  Though 
prophets  and  evangelists  have  fallen  in  win- 
row^s,  yet  the  Cause  is  planted,  and  the  blood 
of  the  martyrs  proves  to  be  the  seed  of  the 
Church. 

The  great  dominant  races  are  Q\\r\%X.\2in.  Resources. 
The  growing  languages  are  Christian.  The 
growing  Continents  are  Christian.  Numbers 
are  against  us.  But  power  is  for  us.  The  de- 
mand is  great,  but  our  resources  are  greater. 
V/e  do  not  ever  need  Scriptural  progression 
of  power,  where  one  chases  a  thousand,  and 
two  ten  thousand,  and  four  chase  a  hundred 
thousand.  We  have  now  the  resources  for  the 
conquest  of  the  world  on  a  human  arithmetic. 
We  shall  need  prepared  men,  and  called.  But 
we  have  them,  vast  lines  of  our  reserves,  un- 
counted home-guards.  You  can  hardly  find 
a  lad  or  a  little  girl  in  all  the  Sunday-schools 
of  the  Republic  that  does  not  know  more 
about  God  and  His  way  of  salvation  than  all 
the  fakirs  and  mandarins  of  Asia  combined. 
Proud  old  Asia, — the  land  of  high  mountains, 
and  beautiful  scenery,  and  broad  rivers;  of 
the  most  populous  empires  and  ancient  liter- 
ature and  hoary  arts;  the  land  that  had  mathe- 

269 


Missionary  Addresses. 

matics,  and  astronomies,  and  belles  lettres, 
and  philosophies,  and  sacred  books  more  than 
two  thousand  years  before  the  ancient  Gaels 
were  dragged  at  Caesar's  conquering  chariot- 
wheels  from  Briton  into  the  marts  of  Pagan 
Rome;  where  Elijah  found  his  chariot  of  fire, 
and  Paul  the  light  above  the  brightness  of  the 
noonday  sun  for  the  far-ofif  Gentiles, — proud 
old  Asia,  in  her  scholars  with  a  pedigree  of 
forty  centuries,  can  be  led  and  taught  true 
knowledge  by  children  from  our  infant 
classes. 

Talk  about  men!  We  have  them  in  sur- 
plus. If  Germany  can  keep  one  million  men 
idle  in  peace,  and  two  million  more  ready 
for  call;  if  prostrate  France  can  nearly  repeat 
the  waste;  if  bankrupt  Austria  can  hold  an- 
other million,  and  insolvent  Italy  nearly  as 
many  more;  and  Russia  a  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand  more  in  idleness, — what  may 
not  the  Church  do?  If  these  five  nations  can 
keep  six  or  seven  millions  of  men  in  time  of 
peace  marching  and  countermarching  and 
drawing  their  rations  and  pay,  what  shall  we 
say  of  the  power  of  the  Church  in  the  great 
emergency  for  the  world's  salvation?     I  tell 

270 


The  Field. 

you  the  truth,  I  speak  the  words  of  truth  and 
soberness:  the  Church  has  advanced  to  such 
proportions  that  the  world's  conquest  is  the 
imperative  duty  of  each  succeeding  gener-> 
ation.  All  she  lacks  is  zeal.  She  has  the 
men.    She  has  the  money. 

See  the  treasure  wasted  in  war  by  Christian  Treas- 
nations.  Christianized  England  expends  an-"''^-^- 
nually,  for  army  and  navy  and  interest  on  war 
debt,  $250,000,000.  The  war  debts  of  Europe 
are  $15,000,000,000,  bearing  an  annual  inter- 
est of  $600,000,000.  Her  annual  loss  of  labor 
nearly  $1,000,000,000  more.  There  is  money 
enough  in  the  Christian  nations.  Nearly  all 
the  money  of  the  world  is  in  their  cofifers. 
They  have  the  great  harvests,  and  the  great 
commerce,  and  the  great  manufactories,  and 
the  great  and  exhaustless  mines.  There  is 
money  enough  for  this  work,  and  tenfold  to 
spare,  if  only  such  a  conviction  could  take 
hold  upon  these  people  as  is  justified  by  the 
facts  in  the  case.  I  verily  believe  that  the 
Protestant  Christians  of  the  English  tongue 
could  hurl  a  million  missionaries  into  the 
heathen  field  in  a  single  twelvemonth  if  only 
they  were  pressed  with  the  zeal  that  pushed 

271 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Paul  into  every  metropolis  of  his  time.  We 
could  furnish  a  preacher  for  every  eight  hun- 
dred souls.  This  is  not  all  fancy. 
Advan-  Look  at  our  advantages.  When  the  Church 
'^^^^'  sent  out  her  first  missionaries  they  made  their 
way  on  foot.  They  measured  the  Continents 
staff  in  hand.  Paul  was  longer  in  going  from 
Caesarea  to  Rome  than  it  now  takes  to  go 
twice  around  the  world.  Then  the  Church 
raised  her  contributions  of  heavy  coin,  and 
sent  a  special  embassy  to  carry  it  on  their 
backs,  over  deserts,  through  mountain  passes, 
along  dangerous  defiles,  pursued  by  enemies, 
waylaid  by  marauders,  and  exhausted  by 
trackless  leagues.  Now  the  contribution  is 
dropped  into  the  treasury  here,  the  amount 
telegraphed  to  India  or  the  distant  mission 
field  in  forty  seconds,  drawn  from  a  bank 
there,  and  sent  about  its  work  in  an  hour  from 
the  time  it  is  contributed  here.  This  only 
averages  our  advantages.  Then  seas  pre- 
sented impassable  barriers.  To-day  they  are 
only  highways  over  which  the  missionary 
rides  easily  in  his  library  or  with  his  friends. 
Then  mountain  ranges  were  passed  only  at 
advantage  in  certain  summer  months  and  by 
a  few  of  the  most  sturdy  souls.     Now  their 

272 


The  Field. 

tunnels  only  furnish  safe  and  refreshing  vari- 
ety to  the  swift  journey.  Then  the  apostles 
went  forth  from  a  despised  and  subjugated 
province,  to  be  treated  as  the  filth  and  off- 
scourings of  the  whole  earth.  To-day  they 
are  the  honored  sons  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 
A  few  English  cannon  broke  down  the  wall 
of  Tartary,  and  thirty  thousand  English  bay- 
onets keep  many  millions  of  Pagans  in 
awe.  There  is  not  a  field  where  we  are  not 
at  advantage.  Paul  as  a  Roman  citizen  was 
often  rescued  from  the  perils  into  which  his 
Jewish  blood  and  Christian  faith  cast  him. 
His  citizenship  was  a  shield  as  wide  as  the 
Roman  Empire.  The  eagles  of  Rome  were 
his  defense  against  the  bigotry  at  Jerusalem, 
against  treachery  at  Cssarea,  against  avarice 
in  Ephesus,  and  against  jealousy  in  Philippi. 
This  was  for  a  single  disciple.  But  now  the 
flag  of  Christian  America  secures  respect  for 
the  missionary  in  every  field.  China  looks  to 
us  for  treaties  and  statesmen  and  statesman- 
ship; Japan  sends  her  embassies  to  this  land 
for  schools,  for  inventions,  for  arts,  for  treat- 
ies, for  statecraft,  and  for  ideas.  Soon  these 
peoples  must  take  our  faith  with  our  civil- 
ization. In  India  the  Brahman  and  the  Bud- 
i8  273 


Missionary  Addresses. 

dhist  are  sickening  of  the  faith  that  can  not 
save  them  though  it  has  been  rooted  in  the 
soil  so  many  centuries.  In  Turkey  the  prom- 
ise of  our  faith  is  a  sort  of  protection  against 
the  ambition  of  France,  and  the  greed  of  Rus- 
sia, and  the  history  of  Germany,  and  the  need 
of  England.  So  the  blood  and  tongues  of  our 
missionaries  are  passports  securing  protection 
on  the  banks  of  the  Congo,  by  the  waters  of 
the  Yang-tse-Kiang,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Ganges,  and  in  the  streets  of  Constantinople. 
Absolutely  nothing  is  impossible  to  us.  I  do 
not  mean  that  we  could  thus  flood  all  heathen- 
ism and  do  everything  else  at  the  same  time, — 
buy  all  the  land  next  to  us,  improve  all  the 
vacant  property  in  America,  purchase  all  lux- 
uries and  extravagances  of  the  time,  outvie 
Croesus  in  temporalities,  Hannibal  in  war, 
Henry  VHI  in  self-indulgence,  and  William 
of  Germany  in  power.  But  I  mean  this:  if 
we  took  hold  of  heathendom,  Buddha  and 
Brahma,  and  Thor  and  Woden,  as  we  took 
hold  of  Jefif  Davis  and  his  fellow  conspirators 
in  '6i,  as  we  took  hold  of  this  fallen  city  in 
'71,  to  lift  it  out  of  the  ashes,  and  every  man 
said,   "No  matter  what  it  costs,   it  must  be 

274 


The  Field. 

done,"  there  would  not  be  a  heathen  hamlet 
without  the  gospel  in  twenty-four  months. 

We  do  not  know  how  much  there  is  in  us 
till  we  try.  We  have  no  adequate  measure  of 
our  possibilities  in  our  past  history.  The 
great  law  is  this,  power  is  limited  by  oppor- 
tunity. We  can  do  anything  we  dare  under- 
take. A  crisis  comes ;  some  unknown  man 
steps  out  and  says,  "It  is  in  me;  I  can  do  the 
work;  I  can  make  this  defense;  I  can  drive 
out  the  invader;  I  can  crush  the  rebellion;" 
and  he  does  it.  Who  ever  dreamed  that  the 
lad  on  the  island  of  Corsica  making  love  with 
his  stockings  about  his  heels,  could  overturn 
nearly  all  the  thrones  of  Europe  and  capture 
nearly  all  the  rulers,  including  even  the  Pope? 
Who  would  have  dreamed  that  there  was  a 
first-class  dictator  and  England's  kingliest 
ruler  in  that  Puritan  Esquire,  Oliver  Crom- 
well? Did  any  man  see  in  that  captain  of  a 
flatboat  the  liberator  of  one  race  and  the  de- 
liverer of  another,  and  the  tallest  man  of  sixty 
centuries?  Who  ever  dreamed  that  that 
peaceable  immigrant  from  the  Western  Re- 
serve into  Kansas,  with  his  cuts  of  fine  fruit 
and  his  improved  stock,  was  to  be  the  thunder- 

275 


Missionary  Addresses. 

bolt  of  the  border,  the  terror  of  all  the  Slave 
States,  the  resurrection  trump  for  a  dead  na- 
tion, and  the  deathless,  onmarching  soul  of 
liberty  for  a  thousand  years?  We  can  tell 
nothing  of  what  we  can  do  till  the  crisis  comes 
and  we  throw  ourselves  into  the  gap,  anxious 
only  for  the  imperiled  cause,  and  knowing  of 
nothing  impossible  but  defeat.  This  is  an  age 
of  impossible  achievements.  History  is  more 
miraculous  than  prophecy.  This  is  the  age 
in  which  a  railroad  was  shoved  over  the  con- 
tinent at  four  miles  a  day,  and  cities  planted 
in  the  wilderness  by  the  thousand.  This  is 
the  age  in  which  we  have  seen  nearly  a  hun- 
dred miles  of  palaces  built  in  a  single  year. 
Yonder  in  the  cars,  leaping  the  chasms  of  the 
Sierra  Nevadas  and  rushing  down  to  the 
Golden  Gate,  or  here  amid  the  rising  walls 
of  a  new  city,  we  have  a  right  to  say  that 
absolutely  nothing  is  impossible.  Six  hun- 
dred poor  Moravians  were  exiled  from  their 
home  because  their  faith  disturbed  a  retired 
country  town.  But  God's  Spirit  was  in  them, 
and  they  resolved  on  the  capture  of  the  world. 
They  had  no  friends,  no  money,  and  no  hope 
of  either.  They  divided  into  little  companies, 
and  took  upon  themselves  the  whole  earth. 

276 


The  Field. 

They  had  to  work  their  way  as  best  they  could. 
But  they  seized  upon  this  Continent  along  its 
eastern  border.  They  penetrated  its  wilds. 
They  mastered  its  wild  dialects.  They  scat- 
tered the  good  seed  in  all  soils.  They  seized 
Africa  at  both  ends  and  in  the  middle.  They 
burrowed  in  the  ice-fields  of  the  Arctic  re- 
gions, and  planted  the  rose  of  Sharon  in  beds 
of  eternal  snow.  They  laid  hold  upon  Eu- 
rope. And  their  labor  was  not  in  vain.  Im- 
bue the  whole  Church  with  such  a  spirit,  and 
God's  day  will  come.  With  such  zeal  noth- 
ing is  impossible. 

An  ancient  king,  on  the  eve  of  a  great  battle 
against  overwhelming  odds,  went  out  in  dis- 
guise to  watch  his  lines  and  catch  the  temper 
of  his  troops.  He  found  one  group  discon- 
tented and  alarmed,  counting  up  the  odds. 
Impatient  with  their  fears,  he  threw  off  his 
cloak,  exposing  his  royal  insignia,  saying, 
"Count  me  for  thirty  thousand."  In  this  great 
war  against  sin  we  must  count  our  Captain  as 
certain  of  victory,  for  He  always  brings  us 
off  more  than  conquerors.  Nothing  is  impos- 
sible to  us. 

There  is  another  great  truth  under  this  mis- 
sion work,  this  sowing  the  world,  that  insures 

277 


Missionary  Addresses 

TAf  Z-aw success.     This  puts  the  Church  under  the  Law 
"i  of  Growth.     It  is  one  condition  of  life  that 

Groivth.  .  '  ,  •        ,  / 

It  must  grow,  must  shove  itself  out  some- 
where, must  manifest  itself,  or  die.  You  can 
not  shut  it  in.  No  tree  will  live  over  the  sum- 
mer if  you  do  not  let  it  spread  out  its  leaves, 
and  pump  up  its  sap,  and  push  out  its  buds, 
and  take  on  new  proportions.  It  is  so  with 
all  life.  Nations  die  as  soon  as  they  have  fin- 
ished their  task.  Make  the  last  road,  settle 
the  last  wilderness,  finish  the  last  village,  and 
death  is  inevitable.  Finish  up  this  Continent, 
pack  it  with  two  thousand  millions  of  people, 
work  all  its  mines,  plow  all  its  acres,  and  not 
let  its  armies  or  its  diplomats  break  over  into 
any  other  territory,  and  you  seal  the  fate  of 
this  civilization.  This  is  why  nations  always 
grow  by  colonization,  not  chiefly  by  conquest, 
never  by  conquest  unless  it  be  of  territory  for 
colonies.  Freebooters  are  always  poor  and 
weak,  be  they  Arabs  or  pirates. 

This  law  holds  of  individuals.  It  is  the 
worst  and  most  melancholy  thing  a  ship  can 
do  to  go  into  port,  and  take  ofl  the  sails,  to  rot 
down  and  be  only  a  hulk  for  rats.  While  a 
man  works  he  grows.  He  must  reach  for 
larger  results,  more  work;  not  more  wear,  but 

278 


The  Field. 

larger  plans,  more  push,  and  he  will  not  die. 
His  hair  may  drop  off  or  die,  but  the  head, 
like  a  bald  mountain  peak  fringed  and 
crowned  with  snow,  will  be  full  of  power. 
Humboldt  did  not  die.  Vanderbilt  does  not 
superannuate.  Drew  does  not  hand  over  his 
affairs.  He  counts  himself  strong  enough  to 
hold  the  English  stockholders  in  one  hand 
and  Erie  in  the  other.  Retiring  is  consenting 
to  die  and  be  tormented  before  your  time.  I 
know  some  men  who  have  lost  in  the  last  year 
in  money,  but  have  made  in  years.  October 
7,  1 871,  knocked  them  from  the  shelf  where 
they  were  snoozing.  They  were  alarmed  a 
little ;  but,  like  Samson,  they  shook  themselves 
and  went  forth  in  the  strength  of  the  old 
years,  and  they  are  young  and  happy  again. 
This  great  law  holds  over  all  Churches. 
Come  to  your  limit,  and  you  begin  to  die. 
Hear  me.  It  is  easier  to  push  this  Church 
into  new  work  than  to  hold  merely  the  old. 
The  life  of  this  Church  is  the  vigor  with 
which  all  enterprises  are  pushed.  It  costs. 
Of  course  it  does;  but  it  is  the  cheapest  in 
the  end.  This  ongoing  and  outgoing  is  what 
fills  up  the  ranks  with  veterans.  This  is  the 
law  of  Christian  life.     It  inheres  in  God's 

279 


Missionary  Addresses. 

plan  and  In  the  nature  of  the  case  that  we  are 
to  be  everlastingly  doing  something.  This  is 
our  life,  and  so  our  strength. 

Look  a  moment  at  how  this  missionary  work 
brings  back  its  stre?igth  and  advantages.  It 
matures  as  a  muscle  is  matured,  by  use.  It 
develops  strength  from  within  us.  God  does 
not  put  strength  upon  us  like  a  garment  any 
more  than  He  puts  character  upon  us.  It 
must  be  acquired.  It  is  a  purchase.  En- 
deavor, activity,  is  the  cost.  God  works  in 
us  to  do.  We  do,  and  so  we  grow.  It  is  the 
only  highway  to  strength.  All  souls  must 
travel  it  if  they  would  reach  the  end.  This 
mission  work  gives  activity. 

It  sets  new  energies  loose.  Send  the  New 
Testament  into  a  country,  and  it  is  sure  to 
start  the  loom,  and  the  sawmill,  and  the  print- 
ing-press, and  the  steam-engine.  There  is  a 
new  patent  or  invention  in  every  letter  of  the 
Bible,  an  engine  in  every  verse.  You  give 
better  food  and  better  remedies,  and  so  more 
years.  You  turn  all  thinkers  loose.  Sooner 
or  later,  scholars  and  conquerors  are  sure  to 
follow  in  the  steps  of  Paul.  Grammars  and 
lexicons  grow  on  this  gospel  vine.  Thus  you 
lift  up  the  language,  and  so  the  whole  grade 

280 


The  Field. 

of  thought.  You  can  not  pour  into  a  man's 
skull  ideas  of  God,  and  eternity,  and  immor- 
tality, and  heaven,  and  a  universal  spiritual 
kingdom,  and  universal  brotherhood,  and  a 
common  Fatherhood,  without  expanding  his 
skull.  You  will  soon  add  an  inch  to  the  girth 
of  his  cranium,  and  that  last  inch  soon  makes 
either  himself  or  his  son  a  king. 

Missions  become  great  teachers,  great  edu- 
cators. Let  a  community,  or  a  family,  or  a 
Church  send  a  favorite  child  into  a  strange 
land,  and  immediately  they  will  begin  to  study 
up  all  that  can  be  learned  about  that  land; 
its  history,  habits,  religions,  climate,  soil, 
products,  geography, — all  these  must  be  stud- 
ied. This  opens  the  door  to  all  knowledge. 
One  taste  at  this  fountain  may  lead  to  largest 
scholarship.  Then  the  language  must  be  mas- 
tered so  as  to  put  the  Scriptures  into  them. 
How  every  word  of  the  Book  is  turned  over 
and  over!  Let  a  man  become  interested  in 
missions,  and  he  must  grow  in  intelligence. 
I  know  a  good  man  who  spent  his  life  in  sin, 
and  late  came  to  Christ.  One  day  he  com- 
plained of  the  teaching  of  his  pastor  as  heter- 
odox. But  he  himself  thought  the  Jews  and 
the  Catholics  were  the  same.    A  hundred  dol- 

281 


Missionary  Addresses. 

lars  invested  in  missions  would  cure  that  in 
time. 

Missions  enrich  us  in  the  field  of  Heroism. 
This  is  a  people's  true  wealth.  Cities  are 
nothing,  commerce  is  nothing,  armies  are 
nothing,  palaces  are  nothing,  wealth  is  noth- 
ing. These  do  not  make  a  country.  They 
may  make  a  body.  But  it  must  have  a  spirit 
of  life  in  it.  This  is  patriotism.  The  great 
war  made  a  people  of  us.  It  inspired  us,  gave 
us  a  martyr  age,  made  us  heroes.  Missions 
make  real  saints  of  us;  not  dead  saints,  to  be 
misrepresented  in  church  windows,  but  real 
working  saints. 


282 


VII. 

THE  SUPREME  NEED  OF  THE 
HEATHEN. 

[This  address  was  written  by  Dr.  Fowler  as  pastor  of  Wa- 
bash Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Chicago,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1869,  snd  delivered  there  September  23d.] 

I  APPROACH  the  subject  of  our  mission  work 
with  some  pleasure  and  much  anxiety.  The 
theme  awakens  thought,  and  opens  the  most 
alluring  fields  for  our  investigation.  I  am 
aware  that  most  of  you  feel  the  subject  to  be 
threadbare.  And  some  of  you  settle  down  in 
your  pews  like  a  patient  in  the  dentist's  chair, 
saying:  "It  is  his  duty.  He  must  take  the  col- 
lection, and  so  we  must  submit.  If  he  would 
only  preach  some  short  gospel  sermon,  and 
then  take  the  collection,  we  could  stand  it; 
but  we  do  n't  want  to  be  begged  to  death." 
I  have  felt  that  way  sometimes  myself.  But 
I  have  been  studying  and  praying  over  this 
subject,  and  I  can't  let  you  ofif  so  easy.  I 
think  you  must  hear  a  little  about  this  cause, 

283 


Missionary  Addresses. 

and  then  do  your  own  begging.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  one  of  the  early  martyrs  I  say, 
"Strike,  but  hear." 

Its  very  magnitude  gives  it  importance. 
There  is  weight  in  numbers.  A  single  nation, 
standing  shoulder  to  shoulder,  dreaming  of 
liberty  and  wading  through  streams  of  blood 
in  the  streets  of  burning  cities,  with  a  despot- 
ism of  iron  disputing  every  inch  of  their  ad- 
vance, and  a  holy  heroism  resolved  on  victory, 
awakens,  arouses,  nerves  up  the  mind.  They 
may  be  only  a  few  colonies  on  the  rim  where 
the  wilderness  of  an  unknown  continent  meets 
the  wilderness  of  an  unexplored  sea,  few  in 
numbers,  weak  in  resources,  young  in  experi- 
ence, poor  in  munitions, — yet  by  their  possi- 
bilities they  command  our  respect,  and  by 
their  purpose  our  admiration.  Poland, 
caught  by  the  tumbling-rod  of  the  nations 
known  as  the  balance  ot  power,  cries  for  help, 
and  every  patriot  groans  with  the  dying  Kos- 
ciuszko.  Hungary  asks  for  liberty,  and  her 
asking  thrills  the  heart  of  humanity.  But 
Poland  is  only  a  little  country,  and  hardly 
able  to  purchase  even  one  of  our  infant  cities. 
And  Hungary,  with  all  her  history  and  hero- 
ism, with  all  her  royal  tombs  and  mountain 

284 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

fastnesses,  would  make  poor  head  against  the 
single  State  of  New  York  in  a  fair  encounter. 
Surely  when  these  boroughs  have  broken  the 
peace  of  the  world  for  whole  generations  it 
may  be  no  little  thing  to  contemplate  eight 
hundred  millions  of  people,  two-thirds  of  all 
the  race,  occupying  more  than  two-thirds  of 
all  the  earth. 

Some  one  is  saying:  "Bouribouligha!  I 
could  endure  home  missions,  but  1  do  not 
want  to  take  a  trip  through  all  heathendom 
this  morning."  Yet  the  theme  of  these  same 
far-away  people  is  rich  in  interest,  rich  in 
their  buried  past.  Sublime  in  their  possible 
future,  imploring  in  their  infinite  need,  touch- 
ing in  their  absolute  kinship  to  us,  eloquent 
in  their  very  sufferings,  and  commanding  our 
attention  in  holding  the  key  to  our  destiny, 
we  may  not  put  them  off  with  a  plea  of  dis- 
tance and  a  pretext  of  hope  in  the  mercy 
of  God. 

This  mission  work  is  the  one  all-important, 
all-absorbing  theme  of  the  ages.  Its  true  idea 
is  Messengers  of  Good  sent  forth  to  the  needy 
and  dying.  It  is  Heaven's  prayer  for  the 
dying  earth.  It  is  the  sun  plunging  into 
chaos,  scattering  his  days  and  his  summers, 

28s 


Missionary  Addresses. 

his  brightness  and  his  order,  with  imperial 
hand.  It  is  God's  eternal  purpose  of  redeem- 
ing love  flowing  into  the  history  of  humanity. 
All  there  is  in  antiquity  to  interest  is  in  this 
theme.  All  there  is, — in  purity  to  attract  the 
saint,  in  heavenly  birth  to  clothe  with  beauty, 
in  breadth  of  plan  to  command  respect,  in 
patient  endurance  to  win  admiration,  in  self- 
sacrifice  to  enthrone  in  dominion, — -all  there 
is  in  God's  first  and  holiest  and  most  abiding 
purpose  toward  man,  is  contained  in  this 
theme. 

One  needs  only  to  get  one  truthful  concep- 
tion of  the  mission  work  to  pronounce  it  for- 
ever fraught  with  profoundest  interest.  To 
send  the  gospel  is  to  send  every  good  thing. 
In  our  work  here  among  the  poor  there  are 
whole  volumes  of  theology  in  a  loaf  of  bread. 
We  come  to  the  heart  over  the  hearth.  But 
this  is  only  an  incidental  relation.  Giving  the 
gospel  is  better  than  giving  a  loaf.  For  it  is 
giving  not  only  the  loaf,  but  also  the  harvest, 
and  the  ability  to  make  one's  own  loaf,  and, 
better  still,  the  consciousness  of  independent 
manhood.  Send  a  New  Testament  into  a 
land,  and  it  will  soon  be  followed  by  the 
grammar,  the  plowshare,  the  reaper,  and  the 

286 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

compass.  Soon  will  start  up  the  college,  the 
waving  harvest,  the  foreign  commerce,  the 
productive  arts.  The  scholar,  with  his  brain 
full  of  cunning  machinery;  the  statespian, 
with  wise  politics ;  the  judge,  with  poised 
scales  supplanting  the  wrong  of  mere  force; 
the  mart,  opened  where  weeds  and  bulrushes 
had  been  supreme;  the  railroad,  running 
across  the  bloody  trail ;  the  telegraph,  with  its 
mystery  of  wisdom,  stretching  over  the  crag 
where  the  eagle  built  her  nest, — all  these  are 
in  the  New  Testament.  God,  having  given 
us  His  Son,  will  also,  with  Him,  freely  give 
us  all  things.  Giving  the  New  Testament  to 
a  land,  we  give  also  every  good  thing,— light 
on  the  mind  illumining  the  path  for  the  flight 
of  thought,  till  philosophy  and  science  and 
song  appear  as  the  inheritance  of  the  obedi- 
ent; light  on  society,  till  the  monsters  that 
threatened  in  the  gloom  are  routed,  and  the 
slaveries  that  trampled  and  ruined  are  abol- 
ished ;  light  on  the  heart,  till  the  avenger  is 
disarmed,  and  love  demonstrates  the  Divine 
fraternity.  To  send  the  New  Testament  is  to 
send  all  that  comprises  civilization,  from  the 
cunning  that  turns  a  pinhead  to  the  skill  that 
plants  a  Pacific  Railroad;  from  the  mystery 

287 


Missionary  Addresses. 

of  an  alphabet  to  the  appliances  of  salvation. 
Send  more  New  Testaments  to  Hindustan, 
and  she  will  not  need  to  import  from  Eng- 
land, via  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  her  elephant 
plows.  Surely  whoever  is  interested  in  hu- 
manity must  be  interested  in  this  mission 
work. 

Let  us  take  a  look  at  some  of  our  mission 
fields.  We  can  do  no  better  thing  than  ac- 
quaint ourselves  with  what  we  are  doing  and 
to  do.  Get  into  a  palace  car.  Five  turns  of 
the  sun  will  put  you  on  a  steamer  puffing  out 
through  the  Golden  Gate.  Eighteen  evenings 
more  will  land  you  within  the  sacred  pre- 
cincts of  the  Celestial  Empire.  This  field 
comes  first  in  its  new  relations  to  us.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  productive,  beautiful,  and 
healthful  countries  of  the  earth.  Its  compass, 
including  the  peoples  that  read  her  sacred 
books,  is  three  times  as  large  as  our  own  vast 
domain.  It  has  great  variety  of  climate  and 
soil.  It  is  adorned  with  mountain-peak  and 
fruitful  valley.  Fields  of  grain  gladden  the 
husbandmen.  Three  crops  a  year  from  the 
same  soil  support  the  crowded  population. 
She  has  arts  that  rival  the  skill  of  the  Cau- 
casian.    In  many  improvements  she  has  out- 

288 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

stripped  European  thought.  Her  government 
has  withstood  the  successive  shocks  of  the  old 
Persian  hosts,  the  Macedonian  legions,  and 
the  Roman  eagles.  Her  wall,  a  work  without 
a  rival,  defended  her  against  the  Tartars. 
Her  national  life  has  blossomed  in  useful  and 
ornamental  arts.  She  has  a  school  system 
older  than  the  apostles.  She  never  had  a 
slave,  or  a  caste,  or  a  dramshop.  She  ac- 
knowledges only  scholarship  as  the  ground  of 
political  preferment.  This  spurs  her  millions 
to  incessant  study.  A  single  town  will  fur- 
nish ten  thousand  competitors  for  a  literary 
prize.  The  four  books  of  Confucius  are  her 
highest  classics.  Upon  these  are  written  more 
comment  than  Adam  Clarke  wrote  upon  our 
New  Testament.  Yet  such  is  the  zeal  for 
knowledge  that  the  government  always  has 
scholars  able  to  repeat  from  memory  all  her 
classics  and  all  the  commentaries  upon  them. 
The  Chinese  are  to  the  Mongolians  what  the 
Anglo-Saxons  are  to  the  Caucasians.  Though 
they  have  shut  themselves  away  from  the 
world  till  within  a  very  few  years,  still  they 
have  manifested  much  energy  and  enterprise. 
The  Indian  Archipelago  is  a  common  field 
where  they  match  their  strength  against  all 
19  289 


Missionary  Addresses. 

other  races.  They  dig  for  the  precious  metals 
of  Australia,  and  their  picks  and  pans  are 
straining  the  gold-dust  of  California.  They 
are  the  most  courageous  and  venturesome  of 
the  Asiatics.  They  are  not  deficient  in  the 
quality  that  makes  pirates,  pugilists,  and 
rebels.  Though  they  speak  many  dialects, 
they  sit  beneath  the  shade  of  the  camphor- 
tree,  and,  breathing  perfumes  of  the  peach 
and  orange,  read  the  language  that  is  common 
to  four  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  people, 
nearly  one-third  the  human  race.  No  other 
tongue  ever  reached  a  quarter  as  many  as  the 
classics  of  China.  The  United  States  is  a  vast 
Empire,  whose  evangelization  is  of  moment; 
but  all  our  tongues  reach  less  than  forty  mil- 
lions here.  A  promise  or  a  precept  painted 
into  the  hieroglyphics  of  China  would  com- 
fort ten  Continents  like  this.  Who  can  meas- 
ure such  a  host?  Marching  in  single  file, 
three  feet  apart,  the  line  would  reach  ten 
times  around  the  world.  They  could  join 
hands  and  form  a  belt  that  would  compass  the 
earth  and  moon  at  her  mean  distance  from  us. 
Posted  on  a  bridge  to  the  sun,  they  would  be 
within  speaking  distance  of  each  other.  All 
this  host,  with  vigorous  brain,  is  now  rapping 

290 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

at  our  door  and  coming  with  their  idolatry. 
We  think  of  the  three  million  idols  and  five 
hundred  thousand  temples  of  China,  and  im- 
agine that  the  nation  is  a  vast  continent  of 
intellectual  sand  that  w^e  have  only  to  breathe 
upon  with  the  breath  of  our  civilization  and 
see  it  all  dissipated.  We  are  looking  to  the 
time  when  John,  with  his  long  hair  and  small 
feet,  will  be  our  servant,  coming  to  this  land 
of  free  institutions  and  active  thought,  to  carry 
our  water  and  hew  our  wood.  But  in  all  this 
we  may  be  mistaken.  While  Buddhism  is 
full  of  idols  and  superstition,  Confucianism 
is  based  upon  reason,  and  does  not  suffer  much 
in  comparison  with  some  of  the  isms  that  re- 
ject Jesus  and  seek  to  reverse  the  tide  of  his- 
tory. We  shall  find  these  men  competing  with 
us  for  the  commerce  and  wealth  of  the  world. 
The  child  now  lives  who  may  see  this  people 
contending  for  equality  on  this  soil.  When 
we  look  at  the  people  and  their  culture  and 
possible  future,  it  ceases  to  be  a  Bouribouligha 
enterprise  and  becomes  a  question  of  personal 
safety  with  us.  The  evangelization  of  China 
is  necessary  to  secure  our  own  altars  from  the 
pollutions  of  idolatry. 

Have  you  any  definite  idea  how  much  we 
291 


Missionary  Addresses. 

are  acutally  doing  for  China?  We  never  sent 
her  a  man  till  1847,  and  now,  A.  D.  1869,  we 
have  only  twenty  missionaries  there.  These 
are  in  the  Fukien  Province,  along  the  southern 
shore.  Twenty  missionaries  for  four  hundred 
and  fifty  millions,  one  for  every  twenty-two 
million  five  hundred  thousand.  Imagine  one 
missionary  sent  to  the  whole  United  States  in 
1850,  and  you  see  what  we  are  doing. 

Now  take  ship,  sail  out  through  the  Chinese 
Sea,  westward  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  then 
through  to  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  up  the  Ganges 
into  Hindustan,  and  you  are  in  the  heart  of 
our  India  Mission.  Here  we  meet  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty  millions  of  idolaters  under 
the  government  of  Great  Britain.  This  peo- 
ple are  divided  into  castes  the  most  absolute. 
The  distinction  between  an  old  master  and  his 
slave  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  distinc- 
tions of  caste.  Overrun  by  the  Mohammedan, 
and  again  by  the  English,  the  Brahman  di- 
vides his  soil  with  his  conqueror;  but  neither 
the  spear  of  the  Mussulman  nor  the  cannon 
of  the  Briton  has  been  able  to  pierce  the 
castes  of  this  land.  Many  of  their  arts  would 
do  credit  to  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Away  in  the 
jungles,    toiling  by   his   secluded    forge,   the 

292 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

India  blacksmith  will  take  a  bar  of  rough 
iron,  put  it  through  a  process,  which  he  has 
inherited  from  his  fathers  who  stood  at  the 
same  forge  ever  since  long  before  Moses  went 
out  of  Egypt  or  Abraham  ascended  Mount 
Moriah,  and  bring  it  out  a  sword  that  will 
sever,  as  Wendell  Phillips  says,  "Sheffield's 
best  blade  without  turning  the  edge."  The 
philosophy  of  India  is  not  the  work  of  chil- 
dren. There  are  thinkers  in  that  dark  land 
that  court  discussion  and  fearlessly  run  a  tilt 
with  Christian  evidences.  While  China  is  sa- 
lubrious in  climate, — at  points  not  unlike  Vir- 
ginia or  Kentucky, — and  has  the  bond  of  one 
language,  India  wars  upon  the  Northern  Con- 
stitution, and  her  ancient  tongue  is  now  broken 
into  twenty  fragments  and  more  than  a  hun- 
dred scraps.  But  here  are  two  hundred  and 
eighty  millions,  seven  times  as  many  as  in  the 
United  States.  Yet  we  did  not  enter  this  field 
till  1857,  then  to  fall  into  the  treacherous  em- 
brace of  the  Sepoy  Rebellion.  But  the  storm 
passed,  and  our  Mission  did  not  die  out.  It 
did  shake  in  the  nostrils  of  the  blast,  but  that 
only  rooted  it  more  deeply  into  the  very  soil. 
For  ten  years  this  has  been  the  favorite  mis- 
sion  of   our   Church.     Now   we   have   only 

293 


Missionary  Addresses. 

twenty-four  missionaries  in  that  field, — one  to 
every  ten  millions.  Think  of  one  missionary 
for  all  New  England  and  the  Empire  State 
and  Pennsylvania  thrown  in! 

Africa  has  about  twelve  million  square 
miles  and  sixty-one  millions  of  people.  We 
have  there  fifteen  missionaries,  including  a 
bishop  ;  that  is,  one  to  every  four  million,  with 
nearly  one  million  square  miles,  or  about  one- 
quarter  as  much  as  all  our  dominion  for  a  dis- 
trict. All  our  missions  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows:  Africa,  fifteen;  South  America, 
eight;  China,  twenty;  Germany,  forty-one; 
Scandinavia,  nineteen;  India,  twenty- four; 
Bulgaria,  three;  total  foreign,  one  hundred 
and  thirty.  Then  we  have  two  thousand  one 
hundred  and  fifty-one  missionaries  in  the 
home  work,  paid  in  part  or  entirely  by  the 
Society. 

My  conviction  has  always  been  in  favor  of 
the  home  work  rather  than  the  foreign.  It 
has  seemed  to  me  that  God  purposed  that  we 
should  be  a  Home  Mission  nation,  to  whom 
He  is  sending  all  the  families  of  men.  But 
I  am  persuaded  that  this  home  work  has  rela- 
tively its  full  share  of  attention.  The  home 
field,  with  less  than  forty  millions,  is  supplied 

294 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

with  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-one 
missionaries,  while  the  foreign  fields,  with 
nearly  eight  hundred  millions,  has  only  one 
hundred  and  thirty  missionaries.  The  most 
strenuous  advocate  for  home  work  can  not 
criticise  our  Board  for  our  zeal  for  the 
heathen.  Look  abroad,  see  the  demand  every- 
where. Northward,  by  the  Polar  Sea,  is  a  sea 
of  moral  ice.  The  Esquimaux,  save  at  some 
few  mission  points,  are  wrapped  in  moral 
night  that  has  never  known  the  light.  Large 
districts  of  America,  large  enough  for  em- 
pires, are  traversed  only  by  the  bloody  savage 
on  the  war-path.  South  America  has  a  Chris- 
tianity that  lacks  almost  everything  but  heath- 
enism. Europe  is  sandwiched  between  mil- 
lions of  Pagans  and  millions  of  Mohammed- 
ans, and  spiced  with  other  millions  of  the 
seed  of  Abraham.  Africa  is  enveloped  in  a 
darkness  before  which  her  complexion  fairly 
pales,  and  which  is  surpassed  only  by  the 
degradation  of  the  Mohammedans  in  her  in- 
terior. We  have  already  looked  down  upon 
the  plains  of  Asia.  Let  us  not  forget  that  this 
is  the  site  of  Eden  and  of  Bethlehem,  the 
cradle  of  Adam  and  Christ;  that  here  the 
patriarchs  fell  asleep,   and  the  followers  of 

295 


Missionary  Addresses. 

Jesus  were  wakened  into  life;  that  on  Asia's 
soil  was  built  the  first  altar  and  raised  the  first 
tabernacle.  From  her  heavens  descended  the 
law,  beneath  her  sky  shone  the  pillar  of  fire, 
in  her  firmament  appeared  Judea's  star,  and 
from  her  hills  flow  forth  the  streams  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations.  Let  us  also  remember 
that  the  land  of  Moses  is  still  under  the 
plague  of  darkness ;  the  rocks  that  echoed  the 
songs  of  Miriam  echo  now  the  war-cry  of 
the  Mohammedan ;  and  the  same  fields  trav- 
ersed by  the  weary  feet  of  the  apostles  and 
consecrated  by  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  are 
covered  with  heathen  altars  and  desolated 
with  countless  idols.  Look  where  we  may, 
we  are  met  with  beckoning  hands  and  plead- 
ing faces,  asking  for  the  Bread  of  Life.  I  am 
sometimes  alarmed  lest  we  underrate  the  dan- 
ger to  which  all  these  millions  are  exposed. 
We  think  of  their  social  deprivations,  their 
use  of  elephants  instead  of  locomotives,  their 
tents  for  homes,  their  general  wretchedness 
and  want,  their  despotisms,  and  wars,  and 
famines,  and  massacres;  we  think  of  all  this 
and  their  moral  darkness,  and  think  they  are 
having  it  bad  enough  now,  so  they  must  fare 
better   hereafter;   we   take   them   in   on   the 

296 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen, 

statute  of  limitations,  and,  shrinking  from  the 
burden  of  our  own  responsibility,  we  think 
them  about  as  well  off  as  we  are,  and  so  do 
not  enter  into  their  needs. 

We  sometimes  class  them  with  infants,  and 
thus  make  wide  entrance  for  them  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  so  excuse  ourselves. 
I  know  they  are  a  law  unto  themselves,  they 
have  a  law  written  in  their  hearts,  and  that 
their  thoughts  accuse  or  excuse  them  accord- 
ing as  they  live  up  to  the  light  they  have,  the 
light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world.  And  I  have  no  doubt  that  every 
one  that  improves  his  talent  of  opportunity 
will  be  rewarded  and  saved.  Possibly  we 
shall  meet  Socrates  and  Confucius  in  the 
goodly  company,  singing  a  Savior  of  whom 
they  never  heard  till  they  saw  Him  in  the 
brightness  of  the  excellent  glory.  I  read  with 
joyous  heart  the  story  of  the  old  negro  woman 
captured  in  Africa  and  sold  on  an  Alabama 
plantation.  Her  mistress  told  her  of  Jesus 
and  His  dying  love,  when  she  exclaimed:  "O 
yes,  I  know  Him.  He  is  the  One  that  came 
to  me  on  the  bank  of  the  river  in  my  own 
country.  The  white  man  had  taken  my  chil- 
dren, and  I  felt  that  I  could  not  live,  and  He 

297 


Missionary  Addresses. 

came  and  comforted  me."  I  doubt  not  that 
honest  and  sorrowing  hearts  everywhere  find 
Him  in  some  form,  and  by  His  grace  gain  the 
golden  shore;  for  He  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons, and  all  that  fear  Him  and  work  right- 
eousness have  His  favor.  Just  as  we  get  the 
light  of  the  sun  on  cloudy  days,  when  we  can 
not  see  the  sun  itself,  so  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness reaches  many  heathen  hearts,  though  He 
has  not  risen  into  the  field  of  vision  or  is  ob- 
scured by  the  clouds  of  superstition.  But  with 
all  this  hope,  and  with  supreme  confidence  in 
the  mercy  of  God,  I  still  fear  that  we  under- 
rate the  dangers  of  the  heathen.  There  are 
some  facts  which  we  must  not  overlook. 

There  is  the  fact  of  their  seething  corrup- 
tion. This  is  to  be  accepted  as  a  state.  What- 
ever be  its  cause  or  occasion,  it  is  still  an 
actual  state.  They  are  actually  abandoned  to 
every  conceivable  vice  and  lust  and  passion. 
While  some  of  them  have  in  their  dialects  no 
word  for  God,  they  have  several  words  to  ex- 
press the  act  of  killing  a  parent.  The  next 
world  must  find  them  as  they  leave  this.  How 
may  we  hope  for  a  heaven  in  the  continuance 
of  the  revolting  crimes  and  corruption  of 
heathenism?    While  one  living  up  to  his  light 

298 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

could  be  saved,  we  must  accept  the  testimony 
of  their  conscience  speaking  in  their  sacrifices, 
that  they  do  not  thus  live. 

Another  fact.  They  are  in  the  condition 
we  were  without  Christ,  and  God  so  under- 
stood our  need  as  to  send  Him  for  our  salva- 
tion. It  was  necessary  that  Christ  should  suf- 
fer and  rise  again.  The  same  condition  that 
demanded  any  Christ  at  all  demands  Him  for 
the  heathen. 

Another  fact.  God  has  commanded  us  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  He  put 
His  omnipotent  "Go"  behind  the  infant 
Church  to  whom  He  spoke,  and  they  ran 
through  all  lands,  crying  in  all  tongues:  "The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.  Jesus  Christ 
is  come  in  the  flesh."  Looking  at  these  facts, 
I  fear  that  there  is  some  dire  necessity  which 
we  do  not  feel.  This  I  do  know,  that  God 
wastes  no  effort.  He  never  moves  to  save 
unless  it  is  necessary. 

The  same  law  holds  over  all  the  race.  In- 
creasing the  light,  we  increase  the  chances  of 
heaven.  It  might  be  possible  to  make  a  trip 
across  the  Sahara  Desert  on  foot  and  alone, 
but  it  is  immeasurably  more  certain  in  the 
care  of  an  experienced  caravan.     A  heathen 

299 


Missionary  Addresses. 

might  reach  heaven  without  the  gospel,  for 
all  I  know;  but  life  and  immortality  are 
brought  to  light  in  the  gospel.  This  we  may 
boldly  assert  and  hold:  if  the  heathen  are  to 
have  the  gospel,  the  Church  must  send  it  to 
them.  And  we  are  the  Church.  Therefore 
the  duty  is  upon  us. 

This  duty  is  enforced  by  the  fact  that  the 
mode  of  action  is  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  Divine  procedure  in  all  life.  It  is  every- 
where a  union  of  the  human  and  Divine.  In 
our  very  birth  God  is  our  Creator,  yet  our 
very  existence  turns  on  conditions  outside  the 
Divine  action.  We  come  to  maturity  by  the 
same  law.  We  use  the  means.  We  take  the 
nourishment.  But  God  by  His  law  and  ac- 
tion secures  the  increase.  All  the  productive 
trades  make  us  co-workers  together  with  God. 
The  husbandman  scatters  the  seed,  and  God 
scatters  the  dews  and  the  sunbeams.  One  ma- 
tures, the  other  secures  the  harvest.  This  law 
controls  our  salvation.  Every  promise  in  the 
Word  is  conditioned  on  our  doing  somewhat. 
It  is  ''hearken,"  heed,  accept,  believe,  repent, 
pray,  work,  agonize,  enter  in.  There  is  an 
eternal  copartnership  in  toil  figured  in  the 
eternally  Divine  humanity  of  Jesus.     Thus 

300 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

we  are  to  "work  out  our  salvation  with  fear 
and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in 
us  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleas- 
ure." On  the  point  in  hand  the  whole  Book 
was  written.  This  evangelization  was  the 
very  and  sole  purpose  of  the  Church  in  the 
world.  The  infant  Church  accepted  this  as 
her  work  and  went  about  it.  It  was  not  done 
in  a  moment.  They  were  strong  men,  those 
first  missionaries.  They  had  been  with  Jesus. 
They  had  His  spirit.  They  felt  His  power. 
They  wrought  His  miracles.  And  they  were 
single  in  their  work  to  plant  His  kingdom  in 
all  lands.  Yet  how  slowly  the  work  went  on! 
After  three  years,  eleven  were  under  commis- 
sion, and  one  hundred  and  twenty  were  all 
that  could  be  gathered  to  the  great  prayer- 
meeting.  Fifty  years  later,  when  all  save  John 
had  put  on  the  martyr's  crown,  and  two  gen- 
erations had  seeded  down  the  earth  with  their 
blood,  not  more  than  one  in  ten  thousand  of 
those  who  had  heard  and  seen  were  actual  be- 
lievers; and  three  hundred  years  after  Christ, 
when  a  Pagan  emperor  enthroned  the  faith, 
less  than  one  per  cent  of  the  Empire  accepted 
Jesus.  It  was  a  slow  work,  giving  largest 
room  for  human  co-operation. 

301 


Missionary  Addresses. 

The  Church  sows.  The  Church  is  not  con- 
sulted concerning  the  time  of  harvesting.  She 
is  commanded  to  sow  by  all  waters.  Propa- 
gandism  is  her  organic  law.  This  makes  her 
a  Missionary  Society.  She  can  not  be  a 
Church  and  not  be  a  Missionary  Society.  Let 
your  light  shine.  She  must  do  this  if  she  has 
any  light.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  light  to  shine. 
That  is  what  it  is  for.  The  whole  body  of 
truth  is  called  a  gospel;  that  is,  good  news, 
something  communicated.  Kept,  it  would 
cease  to  be  a  gospel,  cease  to  be  news.  It  must 
be  both  whispered  in  the  ear  and  told  upon 
the  house-top.  It  must  be  on  the  move,  and 
the  very  fact  that  it  is  good,  good  news,  keeps 
it  spreading.  Nature  is  a  communication,  a 
revealment,  an  uttered  word  of  God.  When 
He  said,  "Let  there  be  light,"  He  unbolted 
and  threw  open  the  doors,  crying  to  all  the 
Universe,  Behold!  So  we  must  communicate 
good  news.  A  man  gets  an  idea.  He  button- 
holes his  first  neighbor  till  he  has  told  it.  It 
is  too  good  to  keep.  It  laughs  its  way  out 
into  the  air,  and  floats  around  the  world. 
Thus  the  gospel,  the  good  news,  the  wonder- 
ful secret  of  redeeming  love,  could  not  be 
locked  in.     Archimedes  could  not  but  leap 

302 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

from  the  bath  at  his  discovery  of  relative 
weights  and  run  through  the  streets  crying, 
*'I  have  found  it!"  Luther  could  not  shut  up 
the  great  Reformation  in  his  deep  German 
chest.  It  v^as  too  good  a  thing.  If  he  had 
tried,  it  would  have  shone  out  through  him. 
It  is  in  our  natures  to  communicate.  The  feet 
of  sorrow  are  heavy,  and  her  face  is  veiled, 
and  her  voice  is  hushed;  but  joy  is  swift,  and 
she  seeks  the  open  day  and  the  highway,  and 
she  laughs  as  she  runs. 

Do  n't  you  remember  the  symbol  of  the 
gospel  power  was  a  tongue,  a  fiery  tongue, 
lighting  on  the  disciples'  heads?  Speak,  speak 
burning  words,  speak  winged  words.  This  is 
the  organic  law.  A  Church,  to  be  a  Church, 
must  be  a  Missionary  Society,  and  we  rise 
into  Christian  life  only  as  we  rise  into  the 
missionary  spirit.  The  first  sight  of  Jesus 
lifted  up  draws  us  to  Him.  The  first  contact 
with  Him  heals  us,  and  His  first  breath  upon 
us  fills  us  with  His  spirit,  and  sets  us  to  proph- 
esying. Twenty  missionaries  for  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  millions,  looks  discouraging. 
But  when  I  think  of  the  nature  of  the  gospel, 
and  of  the  authority  and  power  of  Him  who 
says,  "Go,"  I  am  not  discouraged.     Eighteen 


Missionary  Addresses. 

hundred  years  ago  there  were  only  eleven 
clinging  to  the  Master;  to-day  three  hundred 
and  sixty  millions  have  heard  the  good  news, 
and  only  six  hundred  and  forty  millions  more 
are  to  be  reached.  We  have  more  than  one- 
third,  and  in  that  one-third  we  have  the  brain 
of  the  race.  That  is  what  actually  weighs. 
Chicago  alone  will  outweigh  all  Asia.  See 
how  we  take  the  earth  at  advantage!  The 
apostles  did  not  know  much  about  geography. 
There  was  not  much  to  know.  A  pond  that 
would  not  be  seen  by  the  side  of  Lake  Mich- 
igan they  called  a  sea.  A  thousand  miles  of 
coast  and  country  about  the  Mediterranean 
made  up  the  world.  But  now  we  have 
weighed  and  measured  all  the  seas,  and  are  on 
the  point  of  emptying  the  Mediterranean  into 
the  great  desert.  We  have  passed  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules,  and  have  traversed  every  rod  of 
ground  and  every  rood  of  sea.  It  took  Paul 
months  to  go  from  Jerusalem  to  Rome.  We 
can  go  around  the  world  in  as  many  weeks. 
It  required  a  special  commission,  with  brawny 
shoulders  and  brave  hearts,  to  carry  the  liber- 
ality of  Corinth  to  Jerusalem,  and  one  season 
was  exhausted  in  the  journey.  We  can  take 
your  pledge  at  your  door,  and  in  four  hours 

304 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

pay  off  a  missionary  on  any  continent  and  in 
almost  any  district.  The  apostles  went  forth 
as  the  filth  and  offscourings  of  the  whole  cre- 
ation. The  Greeks  thought  them  fools.  The 
Romans  despised  them  as  insignificant.  All 
the  dignity  they  had  was  borrowed  from  their 
accidental  relation  to  some  heathen  nation. 
But  not  so  to-day.  The  missionaries  from  the 
two  great  missionary  nations  go  forth  as  kings. 
To  say,  "I  am  an  American,"  or  "I  am  a 
Briton,"  is  to  command  respect  no  less  than 
the  old  cry  of  "I  am  a  Roman."  It  took  a 
scribe  weary  years  to  produce  a  single  copy 
of  the  Bible,  and  only  princes  in  fortunes 
could  possess  it.  We  can  furnish  Bibles  a 
thousand  a  minute  if  need  be,  and  no  pauper 
so  poor  that  he  may  not  own  the  Word  of 
Life.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost  it  was  the  in- 
augural miracle  of  the  New  System  that  the 
gospel  was  heard  in  different  languages, 
though  the  number  was  less  than  a  score.  But 
to-day  it  is  proclaimed  in  three  hundred 
tongues.  All  the  advantages  and  appliances 
are  ready.  The  great  age  of  preparation  is 
passed,  and  the  Church  is  actually  moving  for 
the  conquest  of  the  world. 

The  other  day  the  Church  was  compara- 
20  305 


Missionary  Addresses. 

tively  indifferent  to  this  work.  But  now  she 
moves  as  for  life.  She  has  the  means  and  is 
developing  the  spirit.  The  United  States 
spent  $3,000,000,000  in  five  years  for  war. 
The  interest  on  that  at  the  old  rate  of  ten  per 
cent  would  give  a  missionary  to  every  twelve 
hundred  heathen  forever.  Surely  the  money 
is  not  wanting,  and  we  are  gaining  in  spirit. 
When  we  come  to  the  point  where  we  feel 
that  the  cause  must  go  forward  whatever  else 
fails,  then  we  shall  see  nations  born  into  the 
kingdom  in  a  day.    It  will  cost  some  sacrifice. 

How  many  of  us  have  felt  any  inconven- 
ience on  account  of  our  donations  to  God's 
cause?  Let  us  be  thoughtful.  Some  of  you 
have  thousands  to  spend  for  comfort  and 
pleasure,  and  your  offerings  to  this  cause  are 
never  felt.  When  God  gives  a  man  health 
and  business  ability  and  prosperity,  He  ex- 
pects a  liberal  return.  And  it  is  a  solemn  fact 
that  His  cause  waits  for  our  support.  Multi- 
tudes whom  He  is  seeking  are  dying.  God 
waits  for  us  to  help  them.  He  does  not  keep 
us  waiting  for  His  mercies.  We  are  the  de- 
positories of  His  truth.  May  we  innocently 
keep  it  from  the  needy? 

I  knew  a  sick  mother  once  who  was  com- 
306 


The  Supreme  Need  of  the  Heathen. 

pelled  to  hand  over  her  child  to  the  care  of  a 
nurse.  After  a  few  weeks  the  nurse  took  of- 
fense and  left.  Neither  money  nor  love  nor 
pity  could  induce  her  to  return.  And  that 
helpless  mother  was  compelled  to  see  her  child 
waste  away  to  a  skeleton  and  actually  starve 
to  death.  She  said:  ''When  I  heard  my  babe 
moan,  and  saw  it  die,  I  could  hardly  keep 
from  murdering  that  nurse.  I  hope  God  will 
forgive  me,  for  it  was  so  cruel."  More  than 
mother  ever  loved  her  child,  God  loves  sin- 
ners. We  have  the  Bread  of  Life.  They  are 
actually  starving  within  our  reach.  God  help 
us  to  do  our  full  duty!  Every  man  for  him- 
self. It  may  cost  some  sacrifice.  I  feel  we 
are  called  to  make  sacrifices.  Only  by  these 
is  His  work  carried  on. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war,  Brother 
Clark,  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference,  was 
sent  to  a  large  and  dangerous  circuit.  He 
worked  for  a  mere  pittance.  His  wife  worked 
and  took  care  of  the  family,  and  he  cared  for 
his  work.  Sometimes  he  had  to  hide  in  the 
swamps  from  the  guerillas.  One  day  he  came 
home  from  a  tour  round  the  circuit.  He  had 
had  an  unusually  hard  time.  He  had  been 
compelled  to  sleep  in  the  swamp  and  eat  the 

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Missionary  Addresses. 

ears  of  corn  he  had  taken  for  his  horse.  The 
next  morning  he  said  to  his  wife,  "Brother 
Griffith  is  going  round  the  circuit  for  me  this 
time."  She  said,  "Where  are  you  going?" 
"Over  to  see  your  father."  His  father-in-law- 
was  well  ofif,  and  wanted  them  to  quit  the 
Northern  Church  and  the  work,  and  he  would 
help  them.  She  understood  the  case  and  said: 
"No,  John,  you  can  eat  the  raw  corn  from  the 
cob,  and  sleep  in  the  swamp,  and  I  can  care 
for  myself  and  the  children.  But  God's  work 
must  be  done,  and  this  people  must  have  the 
gospel."  Brothers,  these  are  the  workers  you 
are  supporting.  I  lay  this  hungry  and  weep- 
ing cause  at  your  door,  that  you  may  not  go 
out  without  relieving  it. 


308 


VIII. 

DIVINITY  OF  THE  MISSIONARY 
IDEA. 

[This  address  was  written  by  Dr.  Fowler  as  pastor  of  Jef- 
ferson Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Chicago,  his  first 
charge,  in  March,  1863.  This  was  the  first  missionary  address  he 
ever  delivered.] 

I  PURPOSE  to  present  the  "Divinity  of  the 
Missionary  Idea,"  and  leave  you  to  gather 
therefrom  the  measure  of  your  obligation. 
"All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  in 
earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  na- 
tions ;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world."  To  this  idea  I  ask 
your  most  prayerful  and  thoughtful  attention. 

I  postulate:  First,  that  the  missionary  idea 
is  Divine  in  its  conception.  It  came  into  the 
world  from  the  worlds  above  us  with  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  It  was  cradled  in  the  manger  of 
Bethlehem.  Its  infant  feet  walked  up  and 
down  Galilee.  It  was  strengthened  in  the 
wilderness  of  temptation.  It  was  sanctified 
in  the  garden  of  anguish.    It  was  armed  with 

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Missionary  Addresses. 

the  cross  of  sacrifice.  It  was  plumed  and  pin- 
ioned on  the  Mount  of  Ascension,  and  its  soul 
was  fixed  with  a  deathless,  uncompromising, 
all-conquering  purpose  by  the  prayer  and  in- 
spiration of  Pentecost.  Its  radical  idea  was 
the  Brotherhood  of  Man,  from  which  it  as- 
cended to  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  And  in 
this  we  see  its  divinity.  Philosophy,  through 
the  lips  of  one  of  her  wisest  children,  said, 
^'I  am  thankful  that  I  was  born  a  man  and 
not  a  brute,  a  Greek  and  not  a  Barbarian;" 
denying  all  fellowship  between  the  different 
races.  The  Jew,  unto  whom  was  committed 
the  promises,  and  to  whom  was  given  the  holy 
inspiration,  looked  upon  the  Gentile  as  upon 
a  dog,  and  not  until  the  Divine  Man  had  ut- 
tered His  deep  teachings  and  pronounced  His 
wonderful  words  could  the  word  "Brother" 
cross  the  narrow  rivers  that  bounded  the 
tribes.  But  when  Jesus,  who  was  not  the  son 
of  the  Jew,  but  the  "Son  of  Man,"  in  whom 
was  a  whole  humanity,  a  Teacher  sent  from 
God,  a  living  Truth  from  out  eternity,  then 
these  narrow  boundaries  were  broken  down. 
The  geographies  of  kingdoms  and  races  were 
manifested  as  the  falsehoods  of  power,  and 
the  spiritual  chart  wrapping  the  earth  about 

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Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

appeared  as  God's  geography,  God's  truth; 
and  to-day  the  African  and  the  Arab,  the 
Scandinavian  and  the  Celt,  the  Teuton,  the 
Norman,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  join  their 
hands  in  one  circle  that  belts  the  world  and 
reaches  around  the  Eternal  Throne. 

Another  element  in  the  missionary  idea 
showing  the  divinity  of  its  conception  is  this: 
a  spiritual  kingdom  in  the  world,  a  kingdom 
permeating  all  forms  of  government  and  all 
types  of  society,  to  which  men  are  eligible  in 
virtue  of  their  humanity,  and  into  which  they 
are  naturalized  by  faith  in  the  cleansing  blood 
of  Jesus.  Science  tells  us  that  there  exists  a 
subtle  ether  in  which  all  bodies  float,  an  ether 
so  subtle  that  it  permeates  alike  all  substances, 
from  the  thinnest  gas  to  the  most  compact  dia- 
mond.. Through  this,  electricity  flashes  and 
light  scintillates,  and  o'er  its  highways  voices 
come  and  go.  We  do  not  see  it  nor  handle 
it,  yet  it  wraps  us  all  about,  and  pierces  us 
through  and  through.  So  with  this  spiritual 
kingdom.  In  it  all  outer  kingdoms  are  to 
move,  and  all  hearts  beat.  In  it  man  is  meas- 
ured, not  by  his  bales  or  his  blocks  or  his 
acres,  but  by  his  manhood,  by  his  humanity. 
We  can  not  see  it,  for  it  comes  not  by  obser- 

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Missionary  Addresses. 

vation.  We  can  not  handle  it,  for  it  is  not  of 
this  world.  Yet  only  in  it  do  we  find  our  true 
citizenship.  We  are  aliens  and  strangers  till 
we  move  into  this  spiritual  kingdom,  into  this 
commonwealth  of  Israel.  Surely  the  mission- 
ary idea,  with  its  heavenly  children.  Brother- 
hood and  Spirituality,  is  Divine  in  its  concep- 
tion, and  if  this  missionary  idea  is  not  more 
than  human,  then  surely  no  other  idea  was 
ever  even  human. 

I  postulate :  Secondly,  that  the  missionary 
idea  is  Divine  in  its  purposes.  Looking  upon 
all  men  as  equally  related  to  the  great  Father, 
it  purposes  to  do  for  all  hearts  alike,  as  much 
for  the  struggling  soul  of  the  Esquimau  or 
the  Hottentot  as  for  the  New  England  scholar 
or  the  English  peer.  It  presents  right  solu- 
tions of  all  the  deep  problems  of  life  and 
death  and  eternity,  problems  which  men  must 
solve  in  one  way  or  another.  I  know  we  have 
a  way  of  denouncing  the  heathen  as  insane  or 
silly  because  they  bow  their  souls  to  stocks  and 
sticks,  to  gods  made  with  their  own  hands. 
But  I  must  count  that  as  a  shallow  and  un- 
charitable solution  of  their  systems  of  wor- 
ship ;  for,  rightly  understood,  there  is  under- 
neath all  their  errors  a  deep  core  of  radical 

312 


Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

truth,  if  we  can  but  have  the  patience  to  find 
it.  Their  system  somehow  seemed  to  meet  a 
felt  want,  and  therefore  they  accepted  it.  It 
was  unto  them  deep,  desperate,  awfully  sol- 
emn truth;  for  it  is  with  them  as  with  us,  an 
infinite  thing  to  live.  They  are  just  as  anxious 
about  that  shapeless,  immense,  overshadowing, 
fathomless  something  which  we  call  the  fu- 
ture, as  you  and  I  are;  just  as  restless  under 
the  chidings  and  goadings,  the  warnings  and 
pleadings,  the  promises  and  prophecies,  of 
that  sleepless,  vigilant,  arbitrary,  uncompro- 
mising, fiery,  all-stinging  something  which  we 
call  conscience,  as  you  and  I  are;  just  as 
trembling  and  fearful,  just  as  desperate  and 
cowering  before  that  all-pervading  idea  of  a 
great,  unseen,  all-seeing,  unknown,  all-know- 
ing God,  as  you  and  I  are.  And  they  put  their 
soul's  eternity  at  hazard  with  no  lighter  heart 
than  we  do  jeopardize  ours.  So  I  have  no 
patience  with  that  narrow  stupidity  that 
throws  everything  out  of  the  field  of  sympathy 
that  is  not  written  in  the  creeds,  by  calling 
them  superstitions.  Superstitions  they  are  to 
us;  but  to  them  they  are  the  solemn,  mysteri- 
ous realities  of  the  unseen  yet  felt  life  of  the 
eternal,  unchangeable  hereafter.    Wrong  and 

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Missionary  Addresses. 

untrue  and  ruinous  as  they  seem  to  us,  yet  I 
think  there  is  always  at  heart  a  great  truth 
there.  When  I  turn  to  history,  and  see  men, — 
men  just  as  we  are,  full  of  social  laws,  and 
human  sympathies,  and  divine  aspirations, — 
shutting  themselves  up  in  caves,  wandering 
over  deserts,  posted  on  pillars  in  the  lonely 
wilderness,  casting  themselves  under  the 
wheels  of  Juggernaut,  I  dare  not  say  that  they 
are  not  in  earnest,  and  that,  too,  about  the 
divine  idea  woven  through  all  natures.  Nor 
dare  I  call  them  irrational.  For  on  the  bare 
rational  balancing  between  time  and  eternity 
there  is  no  sacrifice  of  the  first  for  the  second 
that  is  not  justified — yea,  commanded — by  the 
reason  of  the  case.  So  that  he  who  strives 
most  earnestly,  though  he  strives  right  away 
into  deeper  darkness,  is  the  most  rational.  He 
only  is  insane  who  believes  that  his  eternal 
peace  depends  upon  certain  conditions,  and 
still  madly  neglects  to  meet  those  conditions. 
In  the  weak,  uncertain,  infant  wail  of  the 
heathen  I  find  nature's  answer  to  God's  reve- 
lation. Mumbled  and  muttered  indeed  it  is, 
yet  it  comes  from  the  heart  of  things.  It  em- 
bodies their  best  solutions  of  questions  with 
which  we  must  struggle.    For  flung  into  being 

314 


Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

as  we  are,  with  the  eternal  past  behind  us, 
and  the  eternal  future  before  us,  with  the  in- 
finity of  want  within  us,  the  infinity  of  pain 
beneath  us,  and  the  infinity  of  peace  above  us, 
we  can  not  fail  to  ask,  Is  there  a  great  Cause 
of  Causes?  Has  He  a  moral  government? 
Are  we  under  that  government?  Can  He  look 
down  through  all  the  maze  of  worlds  that  float 
above  us  and  see  our  little  world?  Can  He 
look  through  all  the  countless,  struggling  mil- 
lions that  sprout  into  life  like  the  plants  of 
a  day  and  fall  out  again  like  the  leaves  of  a 
summer,  and  see  us?  Whence  came  we,  and 
whither  are  we  going?  On  what  strange  dis- 
tant shore  will  these  caged  spirits  of  ours  find 
their  ultimate  rest?  With  these  problems  we 
must  grapple.  Business  may  crowd  them 
aside  for  a  season,  yet  the  ever-fleeting  years 
call  them  up  again.  Our  falling  friends  press 
them  upon  our  attention,  and  the  judgments 
that  now  and  then  flash  out  upon  us,  as  the 
wheels  of  Providence  sweep  round,  bid  us 
pause  and  take  our  bearings.  The  blind,  cold, 
dead  idols  of  the  heathen  are  the  best  solutions 
which  nature  can  furnish  of  these  questions. 
And  now  the  missionary  idea  proposes  to  take 
these  problems  and  flash  into  their  dark  cen- 

315 


Missionary  Addresses. 

ters  the  heavenly  light  of  its  divine  inspiration, 
and  along  their  illumined  highways  lead  hu- 
manity up  to  God. 

Go  away  with  me  over  the  sea  to  the  banks 
of  the  Ganges.  See  that  heathen  mother,  worn 
and  weary,  staggering  to  the  river's  side  with 
her  helpless  infant;  watch  her,  as  with  a  frenzy 
more  resistless  than  a  mother's  holy  love,  she 
tears  its  toothless  gums  from  her  aching  breast, 
and  casts  it  into  the  reptile's  jaws,  or  tramples 
it  beneath  her  own  feet.  Art  thou  a  mother, 
with  a  little  one  prattling  on  the  altar  of  thy 
knee,  and  dost  thou  say,  "Monster!"  Be  not 
so  fast.  She  is  a  mother  as  thou  art  a  mother, 
and  thou  thyself  wouldst  do  it  if  the  grave 
were  yawning  before  you  and  hell  boiling  up 
to  receive  you.  Yea,  my  own  mother  might 
have  trampled  me  in  the  dust  had  not  God 
told  her  that  "Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for 
righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth." 
Thus  the  missionary  idea  is  Divine  in  its  solu- 
tion of  the  great  questions  of  life,  and  death, 
and  destiny. 

I  postulate:  Thirdly,  that  the  missionary 
idea  is  Divine  in  its  agencies.  It  everywhere 
acts  by  a  union  of  the  human  and  the  Divine: 
"Go  ye/'  and  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway."    It 

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Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

introduces  into  the  world  a  force  from  above 
the  world.  It  breaks  in  upon  the  lines  of 
nature,  and  then  acts  along  those  lines.  It 
sends  its  divine  inspiration  into  human  hearts, 
and  takes  possession  of  human  affections; 
makes  these  its  motive  power.  It  aims  to  con- 
quer hearts,  and  for  this  it  uses  heart  power. 
In  this  the  idea  works  in  a  manner  all  its 
own.  Nowhere  else  is  this  made  the  central 
force  or  fact  of  any  system.  It  is  emphatically 
a  family  where  heart  speaks  to  heart,  and  all 
beat  responsive  to  the  mighty  throbbings  of 
the  Infinite  Heart  of  Christ. 

Walk  out  into  nature,  and  see  what  is  the 
central  idea  in  her  gigantic  system.  It  is  the 
law  of  relation.  Things  come  to  their  appro- 
priate places  according  to  this  standard.  Sub- 
servient to  this,  or  rather  working  with  this  as 
the  ultimate  end,  are  all  gravities,  attractions, 
cohesions,  repulsions,  and  the  like,  Nature 
with  her  thousand  forces, — forces  of  growth 
and  decomposition,  of  fire  and  frost,  of  light 
and  electricity, — tugs  away  at  every  atom  of 
matter  and  germ  of  life  till  she  pulls  them 
into  their  true  relations.  Her  perpetual  strug- 
gle is  to  keep  things  in  their  places.  If  a  gas 
gets  crowded  down  below  its  true  relation, 

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Missionary  Addresses. 

she  works  away  at  it  till  the  crowding  bands 
are  broken  asunder  and  the  lighter  substance 
finds  its  true  equilibrium.  In  maintaining 
this  law,  nature  sometimes  thunders  forth  her 
authority  from  the  mumbling  jaws  of  the 
earthquake  and  the  volcano's  burning  throat: 
but  maintain  this  law  she  must,  even  at  all 
hazards;  for  this  is  her  organic  law. 

Going  up  one  step  into  mere  animal  life, 
the  ruling  idea  is  the  law  of  physical  force, 
the  power  of  claw,  and  of  coil,  and  of  beak, 
and  of  tusk.  The  animal  with  greatest  avail- 
able power,  whether  it  be  of  speed  or  of  ac- 
tivity, or  of  muscle,  or  of  endurance,  is  master. 
This  force  is  the  principle  of  government.  It 
decides  the  question  of  kingship,  of  dominion. 

Going  up  another  step  into  the  ruder  types 
of  human  society,  the  law  at  the  core  is 
changed  a  little.  Still  it  is  force, — force  of 
muscles,  force  of  blow,  force  of  endurance, 
force  of  numbers,  force  of  courage.  Only  a 
slight  advance,  yet  some  advance,  because 
these  forces  are  husbanded  and  multiplied  by 
the  advantages  of  weapons  and  fortifications. 

Advancing  another  step  into  civilized  gov- 
ernment, we  find  another  central  idea, — power 

3i8 


Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

of  brain.  Obedience  is  to  law.  Appeal  is  to 
reason  and  motive.  These  are  centered  in 
courts  and  cabinets,  systems  of  intrigue,  poli- 
cies of  home  and  foreign  action.  And  now 
and  then,  once  or  twice  in  a  century,  the  ap- 
peal is  to  bayonets  and  cannon;  yet  these  are 
only  instruments,  only  materialized  ideas. 
Thus  the  highest  type  of  human  government 
works  by  laws,  and  enactments,  and  com- 
mands. At  this  point  the  highest  human  con- 
ceptions of  government  are  wedded  onto  the 
divine  revelations  of  government.  To  this  the 
divine  stoops,  yet  only  stoops  to  breathe  into 
them  a  new  spirit  and  motive,  which,  so  far 
as  it  is  received,  annuls  the  injunction,  annuls 
them  in  superannuating  them,  in  removing 
their  demand.  The  power  is  placed,  not  in 
the  law,  but  in  the  affections.  So  the  subject 
is  no  longer  governed;  for  government  im- 
plies restraint;  and  where  the  affections  are 
all  in  perfect  unity  with  the  requirements  of 
the  higher  divine  life,  there  is  no  restraint; 
for  every  wish  of  the  heart  is  in  perfect  keep- 
ing with  the  law.  Thus  love  becomes  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law.  This  motive  power  in  the 
affections,  this  corner-stone  of  authority  in  the 

319 


Missionary  Addresses. 

heart,  is  original  in  the  Christian  system,  and 
is  the  main  force  on  the  human  side  of  the  mis- 
sion work. 

God's  Spirit  is  everywhere,  brooding  over 
all  people,  and  He  is  only  waiting  for  the 
Church  to  furnish  heart-power  and  He  will 
reconquer  all  heathendom.  Our  mission- 
aries go  over  the  sea,  not  with  armies  and 
navies,  but  with  living,  loving,  holy  hearts. 
They  are  not  messengers  of  death,  but  mes- 
sengers of  life.  They  put  their  souls  up 
against  heathen  societies,  and  throb  their  new 
life  into  them.  O,  there  is  a  shoreless,  infinite 
ocean  of  power  ever  surging  to  and  fro  in  the 
human  heart!  I  am  thankful  for  a  religion 
that  can  stand  on  demonstration, — demonstra- 
tion to  which  my  judgment  is  compelled  to 
give  assent;  but  I  am  more  thankful  that  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  power  known  and 
felt  m  the  heart.  For  this  is  the  center  of 
power.  A  religion  that  never  gets  beyond 
the  brain  bears'no  relation  to  the  religion  of 
the  loving,  compassionate  Savior.  It  has  no 
more  power  in  it  than  a  mummy.  It  is  as  far 
from  being  a  new  life  as  a  skeleton  without 
flesh,  or  blood,  or  soul  is  from  being  a  man. 
You  may  blow  through  its  nostrils,  but  that 

320 


Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

does  not  make  a  man  of  it.  So  you  may  blow 
prayers  through  a  heartless  creed,  but  that 
does  not  make  a  religion  of  it.  It  must  have 
a  living,  working,  loving  soul,  that  looks  upon 
its  fellow-man,  saying  "Brother,"  and  up  to 
the  Infinite,  saying  "Father."  What  we  want 
more  than  anything  else  is  heart-power;  then 
men  will  be  thankful  for  the  privilege  of  com- 
ing to  the  house  of  God,  and  will  no  longer 
think  they  are  conferring  a  great  favor  upon 
the  minister  to  listen  to  his  words  of  eternal 
life,  and  upon  the  Almighty  in  visiting  His 
house  occasionally.  Then  we  will  have  money 
power  enough  too. 

William  Penn  armed  himself  with  this  idea, 
and  set  up  his  colony  among  the  savages.  "We 
meet,"  said  Penn,  "on  the  broad  pathway  of 
good  faith  and  good  will ;  no  advantage  shall 
be  taken  on  either  side,  but  all  shall  be  open- 
ness and  love.  I  will  not  call  you  children, 
for  parents  sometimes  chide  theii  children  too 
severely;  nor  brothers  only,  for  brothers  dif- 
fer. The  friendship  between  me  and  you  I 
will  not  compare  to  a  chain,  for  that  the  rains 
might  rust  or  the  falling  tree  might  break. 
We  are  the  same  as  if  one  man's  body  were 
to  be  divided  into  two  parts;  we  are  all  one 
21  321 


Missionary  Addresses. 

flesh  and  blood."  The  children  of  the  forest 
were  touched  by  the  sacred  doctrine,  and  re- 
nounced their  guile  and  their  revenge.  "We 
will  live,"  said  they,  "in  love  with  William 
Penn  and  his  children  as  long  as  the  moon 
and  the  sun  shall  endure."  And  not  a  drop 
of  Quaker  blood  was  ever  shed  by  an  Indian. 
This  is  the  agency  used  by  Christianity.  This 
is  its  missionary  force,  as  manifested  in  its  self- 
sacrifice.  Men  have  denied  the  present  good 
for  some  ultimate  good  that  terminates  in  self. 
They  have  endured  for  conquest  and  power; 
but  nowhere  outside  of  the  religion  of  Christ 
have  they  freely  sacrificed  all  for  others.  The 
model  was  perfected  on  the  cross,  and  its 
agencies  are  under  the  same  law,  "And  I,  if 
I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me." 
Surely  its  systems  of  agencies  are  Divine.  If 
they  are  only  human,  no  other  system  was  ever 
even  human. 

I  postulate:  Fourthly,  that  the  missionary 
idea  is  Divine  in  its  rewards.  One  thing 
pointing  to  this  is  its  miraculous  use  of  money. 
It  takes  up  one  dollar,  turns  it  over,  and  brings 
it  back  ten.  It  so  works  the  tides  of  trade  and 
commerce  that  the  wealth  of  the  world  flows 
into   the   coffers   of   the   missionary   nations. 

322 


Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

Take  down  your  atlases;  study  the  geography 
of  heathendom.  Can  you  find  one  valid  nat- 
ural or  physical  reason  why  those  broad,  deep 
rivers  may  not  float  an  immense  navy  as  well 
as  our  streams;  a  rich  and  productive  com- 
merce as  well  as  the  rivers  of  Christendom? 
You  can  not  convince  yourself  that  those  vast, 
fertile  plains  can  not  be  studded  with  peace- 
ful cities  and  refined  homes.  Because  we  do 
not  see  in  our  harbors  the  flags  and  pennants 
of  Africa,  do  not  meet  at  our  seaports  the  ves- 
sels and  fleets  of  the  heathen,  we  conclude  that 
heathendom  does  not  amount  to  much;  but  in 
productive  soil,  in  genial  climate,  in  square 
miles,  they  far  outreach  us,  and  in  the  natural 
advantages  of  navigation  and  harborage  they 
are  not  much  behind  us.  All  they  lack  is 
moral  ideas  and  moral  purposes.  And  God 
stands  ready  to  multiply  our  wealth  and  com- 
merce a  hundred-fold,  so  soon  as  we  can  trust 
Him  far  enough  to  Christianize  and  civilize 
His  unfortunate,  benighted  children.  They 
stand  along  their  sacred  rivers  and  under  their 
deep,  clear  skies,  with  their  haggard  faces 
turned  up  toward  the  cold,  distant  stars,  look- 
ing for  the  Infinite,  and  the  starving  souls  cry 
out,  "Father,  pity  Thy  suffering  children,  and 

323 


Missionary  Addresses. 

give  us  the  Bread  of  Life,"  and  God  says  to 
us :  "Feed  ye  them,  and  I  will  pay  you  an  hun- 
dred-fold cash  down  in  this  present  life,  and 
give  you  a  title  to  an  eternal  homestead  in  the 
gold-paved  city.  If  you  like  the  security  in- 
vest your  capital."  Mere  commerce  without 
Christianity  does  not  yield  this  increase,  and 
for  this  reason :  The  heathen  have  but  few 
wants,  consequently  but  small  demands.  They 
must  be  Christianized  before  they  can  become 
largely  productive,  before  they  become  exten- 
sive producers  and  consumers.  So  that  the 
real  multiplication  of  money  is  purely  a  mis- 
sionary result. 

Another  and  more  vital  consideration  from 
this  idea  is  this:  It  furnishes  here  to  our  hand 
exchange  on  the  bank  of  heaven.  By  it  we 
are  enabled  to  deposit  here  our  worthless 
''shin-plasters"  and  have  them  redeemed  with 
the  pure  gold  of  that  country  out  of  sight,  to 
which  we  are  all  hastening  with  the  speed  of 
the  winged  moments. 

We  find,  here  and  there,  scattered  through 
the  North,  men  whom  the  unholy  Rebellion 
chased  out  of  the  South.  And  they  are  almost 
always  poor,  and  for  this  reason:  they  could 
get  no  exchange  for  their  worthless  Confed- 

324 


Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

erate  scrip.  And  in  the  pure  atmosphere  ot 
these  Northern  latitudes  their  scrip  is  only  a 
curse  to  them,  because  it  recalls  what  they 
once  possessed,  and  then  creates  a  suspicion 
of  fellowship  with  rebels.  You  and  I  are  run- 
ning through  a  rebellious  world,  and  unless 
we  get  exchange  here  for  our  scrip  we  will 
be  poor  over  yonder  to  all  eternity, — doomed 
to  the  eternal  poorhouse.  For  in  a  day  surely 
coming,  and  much  nearer  than  we  think,  death 
will  chase  us  out  of  this  world,  and  the  Al- 
mighty will  throw  out  our  scrip  and  protest 
our  drafts.  As  a  mere  business  calculation 
it  will  pay  you  to  invest  in  this  exchange. 

A  man  goes  to  Australia.  He  only  sojourns 
there.  He  expects  to  return  to  the  States. 
His  sojourn  is  for  gain.  Now,  if  he  simply 
quarries  stone,  he  can  soon  cord  up  an  im- 
mense weight  of  stone;  but  when  he  wishes  to 
come  back  he  can  not  bring  it  with  him.  It 
may  be  worth  something  to  him  there,  but  it 
is  valueless  to  him  as  a  citizen  of  America. 
Had  he  simply  stored  up  gold  he  could  have 
brought  his  fortune  with  him.  You  and  I 
are  only  sojourners  here.  If  we  simply  invest 
in  farms  and  merchandise,  they  will  be  worth- 
less to  us  over  yonder.    We  can  not  carry  them 

325 


Missionary  Addresses. 

over  with  us.  Only  our  investment  in  the  spir- 
itual gold  of  God's  kingdom  is  worth  the 
saving. 

When  I  remember  that  this  life  is  transient 
as  an  evening  cloud  and  fleeting  as  a  morning 
mist,  that  in  a  very  few  hours  this  frail  body 
of  mine  will  tumble  down,  and  that  this  death- 
less something  within  which  remembers  and 
forgets,  feels  and  thinks,  loves  and  hates, 
which  acts  and  is,  which  I  call  I,  myself,  will 
leap  from  the  crumbling  dust  and  the  melting 
world  and  mount  to  God,  then  I  feel  that  my 
true  higher  life  is  not  of  this  world,  but  be- 
longs to  the  worlds  above  me.  Then  I  count 
as  secure  only  what  I  have  sent  before  me, 
and  really  possess  only  what  I  have  given 
away.  For  I  know  on  the  authority  of  my 
God  that  by  and  by  the  world,  hoary  with 
age,  white  with  the  years  which  eternity  hath 
snowed  upon  her,  shall  uncover  her  grave- 
scarred  bosom,  hand  over  to  God  her  buried 
and  living  millions,  and  walk  mournfully 
away  to  the  funeral  of  Nature.  And  in  that 
day  when  the  earth  shall  be  wrapped  in  her 
winding-sheet  of  flame  and  laid  away  in  the 
tomb  of  chaos,  I  want  my  investments  in  my 
brain,  in  my  heart,  and  in  my  character,  so 

326 


Divinity   of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

that  I  can  say  to  the  Great  Father,  "Here  am 
I  and  all  that  Thou  hast  given  me." 

I  postulate:  Fifthly,  that  the  missionary 
idea  is  Divine  in  its  resources.  It  is  exhaust- 
less  because  it  has  its  end  out  of  self.  I  find 
that  in  nature  nothing  lives  for  itself.  Every- 
thing exists  for  something  else.  The  rose  does 
not  smell  its  own  fragrance.  The  brooklet 
does  not  hear  its  own  melody.  The  sun  does 
not  fold  up  his  beams  within  himself,  and 
walk  sullenly  up  and  down  the  heavens. 
Everywhere  the  purpose  of  a  thing  is  in  some- 
thing out  of  itself.  The  palm,  the  tallest  of 
trees,  is  endogenous;  it  develops  from  within. 
So  men,  as  they  are  endogenous, — that  is,  as 
they  develop  from  within, — reach  nearer  to 
heaven,  nearer  to  God.  A  man  is  not  meas- 
ured about  his  body,  about  his  possessions, 
but  by  his  girth  about  his  soul,  about  his  hu- 
manity. You  can  not  shut  up  his  manhood 
in  his  narrow  frame.  If  he  has  a  single  spark 
of  real  manhood  about  him,  it  will  burn  its 
way  to  the  surface,  and  you  can  see  him  in 
the  darkness.  The  German  Reformation  was 
only  Luther's  humanity,  inspired  and  strength- 
ened a  little  by  the  Almighty,  chafing  against 
a  wicked,  cold  dead  age.    We  call  him  brave; 

327 


Missionary  Addresses. 

but  I  think  the  real  danger  was  not  in  acting, 
but  in  not  acting.  If  he  had  attempted  to  shut 
up  the  Reformation  in  his  great,  deep,  Ger- 
man chest,  it  would  have  burned  up  through 
him,  leaving  him  like  an  old  dead  volcano, 
a  charred  and  blackened  monument  of  God's 
displeasure.  It  is  this  outgoing  and  outburn- 
ing  power  of  the  missionary  idea  that  makes 
its  resources  exhaustless,  and  its  success  cer- 
tain. 

I  remember  of  having  read  somewhere  of 
a  discovered  wreck  in  the  Southern  sea.  The 
helpless  hull  lay  slowly  rocking  on  the  ocean 
ripples.  The  crew  of  the  vessel  which  dis- 
covered the  hull  wondered  if  any  one  was  still 
on  board.  So  a  party  of  daring  sailors  volun- 
teered to  go  and  see,  willing  to  brave  the  dan- 
gers of  plague  and  pestilence  for  the  bare 
possibility  of  saving  some  one.  They  pulled 
up  to  the  wreck,  and  went  up  over  her  side 
to  the  deck.  Silence  walked  noiselessly  back 
and  to,  and  death  patiently  held  the  helm. 
But  down  in  the  cabin,  on  the  floor,  wrapped 
in  the  garments  that  had  once  covered  a  stal- 
wart frame,  they  found  the  shrunken,  shriv- 
eled remnant  of  a  man  still  alive.  They  put 
their  strong  arms  about  him  and  carried  him 
away  to  their  own  vessel,  gave  him  some  stim- 

328 


Divinity  of  the  Missionary  Idea. 

ulant,  and  as  they  stood  around  him  they  saw 
his  hard,  shrunken  lips  trying  to  move,  and 
stooping  they  caught  the  words  that  came  hiss- 
ing through  his  bare  teeth,  "There  is  another 
man  there."  Away  they  went  again  to  the 
wreck,  and  rescued  his  companion.  It  is  this 
spirit  which  the  missionary  idea  always  begets, 
speaking  first  and  last  and  all  the  while  that 
*'there  is  another  man  there,"  which  makes  its 
resources  exhaustless  and  its  success  certain. 
Sometimes  when  I  think  of  the  eight  hun- 
dred million  heathen  to  be  saved,  my  faith 
gives  out,  and  I  think  that  it  is  no  use  to  try. 
But  when  I  listen,  a  voice  comes  to  me  from 
Judea's  holy  memories,  saying:  "All  power  is 
given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go 
ye  therefore  and  teach  all  nations;  and  lo,  I, 
the  Power  older  than  all  histories,  deeper  than 
all  experience,  the  Power  under  all  societies, 
behind  all  governments,  back  of  all  causes, — 
lo,  I,  the  Infinite  God,  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world;  and  I  swear 
by  My  Eternal  Throne  that,  though  you  tread 
with  your  unsandaled  feet  upon  the  'scorpion 
and  adder,'  and  press  your  way  through  the 
lions'  den  and  the  fiery  furnace,  nothing  shall 
by  any  means  harm  you," — then  I  believe  and 
know  that  success  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

329 


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